A performance assessment on manufacturing nodes in robust design of supply chain networks (SCNs)

The paper provides an evaluation method on the performance of manufacturing nodes in supply chain networks (SCNs). After extensive literature review on the robust design of SCNs, a definition of "robustness" is tentatively made. This paper proposes an analytical framework for the manufacturing nodes and explicitly discloses the production authorization (PA) mechanism inside the manufacturing nodes in SCNs. Based on a hypothetical M/M/l queue model of PA mechanism in the manufacturing nodes, a performance assessment on the manufacturing nodes in SCNs is conducted by simulation of the production process through queuing theories. Finally, some possible research directions are suggested for the future work.