System dynamics analysis for the impact of dynamic transport and information delay to disaster relief supplies

In the disaster-relief operations, the emergency supplies usually suffer heavy and dynamic transport delay and information delay. The mechanism of how those delays influence the material flow and information flow is relatively less studied. In this paper, a system dynamics model is presented to describe the disaster-relief supply chain under dynamic transport and information delays. Three levels of each delay are generated respectively and nine scenarios are cross-constructed from them. The simulation results indicate that the transport delay influences the material flow directly, while the information delay impacts the system in multiple ways. Furthermore, two enhanced inventory desiring methods trying to suppress those impacts are discussed. The improvement of performance points out that both the level and the fluctuation of transport delay are affecting the final supply level.