Using simulation for strategic blood supply chain design in the Canadian prairies

Since 2010, Canadian Blood Services has been modernizing its facility infrastructure. Current plans call for the amalgamation of production sites in the Prairie region by 2019. Under this plan existing production centres in Alberta and Saskatchewan will be consolidated into a single site in Calgary. Because of the potential impact to the distribution network, a simulation model of the logistics network was constructed in Visual Basic.Net, using an established simulation framework. Experiments were conducted to estimate the robustness of the network under varying assumptions for delivery interruptions and inventory reserves. Results suggest that, given reasonable assumptions on road network reliability, product demand, and inventory staging, either no, or very modest, changes to product wastage and product reliability should be expected after facility. This work demonstrates the application of a generic simulation modelling framework to resolve important policy questions.