The investigation of supply chain's reliability measure: a case study

Abstract

In this paper, using supply chain operational reference, the reliability evaluation of available relationships in supply<br /> chain is investigated. For this purpose, in the first step, the chain under investigation is divided into several stages<br /> including first and second suppliers, initial and final customers, and the producing company. Based on the formed<br /> relationships between these stages, the supply chain system is then broken down into different subsystem parts.<br /> The formed relationships between the stages are based on the transportation of the orders between stages. Paying<br /> attention to the system elements' location, which can be in one of the five forms of series namely parallel, series/<br /> parallel, parallel/series, or their combinations, we determine the structure of relationships in the divided subsystems.<br /> According to reliability evaluation scales on the three levels of supply chain, the reliability of each chain is then<br /> calculated. Finally, using the formulas of calculating the reliability in combined systems, the reliability of each<br /> system and ultimately the whole system is investigated.