Stochastic models for analysis of supply chain networks

In this paper, we investigate use of stochastic network modeling techniques for analyzing supply chain networks. Supply chains are interconnections of several companies such as suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers with the aim of producing and selling customer desired products. Computing the supply chain lead time, or the order-to-delivery time is an important exercise. In this paper, we present stochastic network models for computing the average lead times of make-to-order supply chains. In particular, we illustrate the use of static probabilistic networks for computing the lead times.