(428c) Design of Resilient Supply Chain Networks for Pharmaceutical Products

The disruption of global supply chains during the pandemic, and its continuing ill effects, has raised important questions about resilience in their design. For over four decades, the design and architecture of supply chains were hyper-focused on their efficient performance and cost minimization more than their robustness and resilience to attacks and failures. However, as the pandemic demonstrated, paying attention to robustness and resilience turns out to be important in the long run. A survey by Ernst & Young indicates that only 2% of the companies were prepared to respond to the covid-19 pandemic [1]. Another survey by Infosys Consulting reports that only 13% companies survived the disruptions to their SCs [2]. Towards that goal, we have developed a conceptual framework that helps us model and analyze efficiency-robustness trade-offs in network design [3,4]. Typical factors considered in the design are efficiency, robustness, uncertainty in supply and demand, unsatisfied demand [5] etc. Additional constrains on shelf life arise for perishable materials such as pharmaceutical products [5]. The elements contributing to resiliency are preparedness, response, and recovery [6]. In this work, we will present an overview of this conceptual framework and discuss the trade-offs we need to make among efficiency, robustness, and cost for the long-term sustainability of such systems for model network topologies such as star, circle, hub, small-world, scale-free, and von Neumann networks.

References

[1] "https://www.ey.com/en_us/supply-chain/how-covid-19-impacted-supply-chain...," [Online]. Available: https://www.ey.com/en_us/supply-chain/how-covid-19-impacted-supply-chain....

[2] "https://www.infosysconsultinginsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cov...," [Online]. Available: https://www.infosysconsultinginsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cov....

[3] Shukla, A., Agarwal. V.L. and Venkatasubramanian, V., “Optimizing Efficiency-Robustness Trade-offs in Supply Chain Design Under Uncertainty Due to Disruptions”, International
Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 41(6), pp. 623-646, 2011.

[4] V. Venkatasubramanian, S. Katare, P. R. Patkar and F.-p. Mu, "Spontaneous emergence of complex optimal networks through evolutionary adaptation," Computers & Chemical Engineering, vol. 28, no. 9, pp. 1789-1798, 2004

[5] B. Zahiri, P. Jula and R. Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, "Design of a pharmaceutical supply chain network under uncertainty considering perishability and substitutability of products," Information Sciences, vol. 423, pp. 257-283, 2018.

[6] P. Chowdhury, P. Chowdhury and P. M. A. Chowdhury, "COVID-19 pandemic related supply chain studies: A systematic review," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, vol. 148, no. 102271, 2021.