Mohammed N Shaik, Walid Abdul-Kader

Supply chain networks are increasing due to linking internal and external processes of the trading partners, which often results in a very large network of activities and resources. Modeling and optimization of such complex systems is always a challenge and considerable efforts have been expended in this area of research. The published models used mathematical programming, simulation, and heuristics modeling techniques to evaluate the performance measures of supply chain networks, such as or among others lead time, throughput time, WIP inventory levels, and resource utilization. The focus of this research work is to provide an overview of the analytical techniques used in modeling supply chain networks because they yield results more quickly and are appropriate for rapid and rough-cut analysis. In analytical models the supply chains are regarded as discrete-event dynamic systems and analysed by Markov chains, queueing networks and Petri nets modeling techniques. The paper also illustrates the variety of analytical approaches and their usefulness, and presents taxonomy of research and development in analytical modeling of supply chain networks. This research work may help the researchers and practitioners to get more informed about the state-of-the-art methods, and it identifies potential areas for future research.