Applying web services technology to implement distributed simulation for supply chain modeling and analysis

The introduction of Parallel and Distributed Simulation (PADS) has added great impetus to efforts to use simulation as a strategic tool to support decision making in supply chain management. However, due to the heterogeneity and the dynamic nature of supply chains, there are many challenges that must be overcome if supply chain simulation is to play an effective role. This paper describes the application of web services technology to the domain of supply chain simulation. A supply chain simulation framework is proposed through a combination of PADS and web services technology. In the proposed framework, PADS provides the infrastructure for supply chain simulation execution while web services technology makes it possible to coordinate the supply chain simulation model. A prototype implementation with a simple supply chain simulation model demonstrates the viability of the proposed supply chain simulation framework.