Decision support system for production and supplier selection in unreliable supply chains

As supply chains are complex, dynamic and consequently unstable, it is inevitable that the involved actors have to react to unforeseen events. Adaptive manufacturing strategies, also known as responsive manufacturing, address this issue by aiming at profitably replenishing the supply chain while dynamically adapting to change. This paper intends to present an aggregated adaptive strategy integrating production, replenishment and supplier selection activities. Based on previous findings and two case studies, involving up to three suppliers, the obtained results show clearly that it is always profitable to consider multiple suppliers to make replenishment and production decisions. We also discuss the generalization of the proposed strategy for more than three suppliers.