Assessing supply chain responsiveness, resilience and robustness (Triple-R) by computer simulation: a systematic review of the literature

Ever more interconnected and complex supply chains increase the risk of disruptions and their propagation. Companies need to simultaneously develop capabilities such as responsiveness, resilience, and robustness (Triple-R) to hedge against these risks, while staying competitive. This requires careful investment decisions on which portfolio of Triple-R strategies to create. Being a dynamic, transient phenomena, analytical tools are often not feasible to quantify effects. Computer simulation provides an important alternative, which led to a surge of literature in recent years. This study conducted a systematic literature review of studies that use computer simulation for assessing Triple-R capabilities. Based on a final sample of 174 full articles, we found that classical means to create Triple-R capabilities have been widely assessed for a broad set of different disruption characteristics, including type of disruption and type of propagation. But, while there exists a broad literature that focusses on engineering resilience and adaptation, more research is needed that focusses on resilience as transformation. Recent disruptions are social-ecological disruptions that require new mitigation strategies. To appropriately design and assess these strategies, which need to consider societal impacts towards Industry 5.0, hybrid simulations, online simulations, and physical simulations are required that can model social-ecological aspects and contexts.

Automated summary

The increasing complexity and interconnectivity of supply chains have raised the risks of disruptions and their propagation. To mitigate these risks while remaining competitive, companies need to develop capabilities in responsiveness, resilience, and robustness (Triple-R). Computer simulation has emerged as an important tool to quantitatively assess the effects of Triple-R strategies. This study conducted a literature review of computer simulation studies on Triple-R capabilities and found that while classical means of creating resilience and adaptation have been extensively studied, more research is needed on resilience as transformation, particularly in the context of social-ecological disruptions.