A Distributed Protective Approach for Multiechelon Supply Systems

The future development trend of many supply systems is to become distributed, highlighting the requirements of agile and comprehensive decisions for both risk evaluation and protective approaches. According to the requirements, this paper proposes a distributed risk evaluation model, the distributed τ-interdiction median (DRIM) model for multiechelon supply systems, which enables the supply system to estimate the hazard using distributed computational resources. Furthermore, a protective resources allocation approach, the DRIM based protection approach (DRIMP approach) is introduced, aiming at making rational defensive strategies that consider the benefits of each facility. The experiment in typical data sets indicates that DRIM and DRIMP approach are able to fulfill the agility, distributed computing, and vendor-neutral requirements. The defensive strategies achieved by DRIMP approach are more rational in the distributed environment, compared to current centralized methods.