Distributed Supply Chain Simulation as a Decision Support Tool for the Semiconductor Industry

The need for better understanding, control, and optimization of supply chains is being recognized more than ever in the new economy. Simulation holds a great potential in portraying the dynamic evolution of supply chains and providing appropriate decision support to address challenges arising from high variability and stochastic uncertainty. Realizing high-fidelity supply chain simulation will require integration of individual supply chain component simulation models and planning systems, shielding to prevent sensitive data from being shared indiscriminately, and even the geographical distribution of the supply chain component models. The authors discuss various conceptual and technical issues that have been successfully addressed to realize a prototype of distributed semiconductor supply chain simulation as well as implementation approaches that can be pursued. The prototype emulates a semiconductor supply chain consisting of two wafer fabs, an assembly and test facility, a distribution center, a warehouse, a supply chain planning module, a logistics provider, and customers.