IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i9p7254-d1134008.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Simulation Approach for the Design of More Sustainable and Resilient Supply Chains in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Ana Carolina Silva

    (INESC TEC—Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Tecnologia e Ciência, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

  • Catarina Moreira Marques

    (INESC TEC—Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Tecnologia e Ciência, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

  • Jorge Pinho de Sousa

    (INESC TEC—Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Tecnologia e Ciência, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
    Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

Abstract

In a world facing unprecedented challenges, such as climate changes and growing social problems, the pharmaceutical industry must ensure that its supply chains are environmentally sustainable and resilient, guaranteeing access to key medications even when faced with unanticipated disruptions or crises. The core goal of this work is to develop an innovative simulation-based approach to support more informed and effective decision making, while establishing reasonable trade-offs between supply chain robustness and resiliency, operational efficiency, and environmental and social concerns. Such a decision-support system will contribute to the development of more resilient and sustainable pharmaceutical supply chains, which are, in general, critical for maintaining access to essential medicines, especially during times of crises or relevant disruptions. The system will help companies to better manage and design their supply chains, providing a valuable tool to achieve higher levels of resilience and sustainability. The study we conducted has two primary contributions that are noteworthy. Firstly, we present a new advanced approach that integrates multiple simulation techniques, allowing for the modeling of highly complex environments. Secondly, we introduce a new conceptual framework that helps to comprehend the interplay between resiliency and sustainability in decision-making processes. These two contributions provide valuable insights into understanding complex systems and can aid in designing more resilient and sustainable systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Ana Carolina Silva & Catarina Moreira Marques & Jorge Pinho de Sousa, 2023. "A Simulation Approach for the Design of More Sustainable and Resilient Supply Chains in the Pharmaceutical Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-23, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:9:p:7254-:d:1134008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/9/7254/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/9/7254/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Klaus R.N. Hansen & Martin Grunow, 2015. "Modelling ramp-up curves to reflect learning: improving capacity planning in secondary pharmaceutical production," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(18), pages 5399-5417, September.
    2. Lücker, Florian & Seifert, Ralf W., 2017. "Building up Resilience in a Pharmaceutical Supply Chain through Inventory, Dual Sourcing and Agility Capacity," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 114-124.
    3. Dmitry Ivanov, 2018. "Revealing interfaces of supply chain resilience and sustainability: a simulation study," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(10), pages 3507-3523, May.
    4. Fahimnia, Behnam & Jabbarzadeh, Armin, 2016. "Marrying supply chain sustainability and resilience: A match made in heaven," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 306-324.
    5. Saheeb Ahmed Kayani & Salman Sagheer Warsi & Raja Awais Liaqait, 2023. "A Smart Decision Support Framework for Sustainable and Resilient Supplier Selection and Order Allocation in the Pharmaceutical Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-30, March.
    6. Shashi & Piera Centobelli & Roberto Cerchione & Myriam Ertz, 2020. "Managing supply chain resilience to pursue business and environmental strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1215-1246, March.
    7. Henry, Devanandham & Emmanuel Ramirez-Marquez, Jose, 2012. "Generic metrics and quantitative approaches for system resilience as a function of time," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 114-122.
    8. Patrycja Hoffa-Dabrowska & Katarzyna Grzybowska, 2020. "Simulation Modeling of the Sustainable Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-15, July.
    9. Armin Jabbarzadeh & Behnam Fahimnia & Fatemeh Sabouhi, 2018. "Resilient and sustainable supply chain design: sustainability analysis under disruption risks," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(17), pages 5945-5968, September.
    10. Xinqiu Zhu & Yenchun Jim Wu, 2022. "How Does Supply Chain Resilience Affect Supply Chain Performance? The Mediating Effect of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-19, November.
    11. Pinyarat Sirisomboonsuk & James Burns, 2023. "Sustainability in Supply Chains through Rapid Capacity Increases and Minimized Disruptions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, March.
    12. Marta Negri & Enrico Cagno & Claudia Colicchia & Joseph Sarkis, 2021. "Integrating sustainability and resilience in the supply chain: A systematic literature review and a research agenda," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 2858-2886, November.
    13. Antonio Zavala-Alcívar & María-José Verdecho & Juan-José Alfaro-Saiz, 2020. "A Conceptual Framework to Manage Resilience and Increase Sustainability in the Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-38, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maria Ghufran & Khurram Iqbal Ahmad Khan & Fahim Ullah & Wesam Salah Alaloul & Muhammad Ali Musarat, 2022. "Key Enablers of Resilient and Sustainable Construction Supply Chains: A Systems Thinking Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-19, September.
    2. El-Awady Attia & Ali Alarjani & Md. Sharif Uddin & Ahmed Farouk Kineber, 2023. "Determining the Stationary Enablers of Resilient and Sustainable Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-23, February.
    3. Shoufeng Ji & Pengyun Zhao & Tingting Ji, 2023. "A Hybrid Optimization Method for Sustainable and Flexible Design of Supply–Production–Distribution Network in the Physical Internet," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-34, April.
    4. Chih-Hung Hsu & Ming-Ge Li & Ting-Yi Zhang & An-Yuan Chang & Shu-Zhen Shangguan & Wan-Ling Liu, 2022. "Deploying Big Data Enablers to Strengthen Supply Chain Resilience to Mitigate Sustainable Risks Based on Integrated HOQ-MCDM Framework," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-35, April.
    5. Hosseini, Seyedmohsen & Ivanov, Dmitry & Dolgui, Alexandre, 2019. "Review of quantitative methods for supply chain resilience analysis," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 285-307.
    6. Marta Negri & Enrico Cagno & Claudia Colicchia & Joseph Sarkis, 2021. "Integrating sustainability and resilience in the supply chain: A systematic literature review and a research agenda," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 2858-2886, November.
    7. Basu R, Jothi & Abdulrahman, Muhammad D. & Yuvaraj, M., 2023. "Improving agility and resilience of automotive spares supply chain: The additive manufacturing enabled truck model," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    8. Antonio Zavala-Alcívar & María-José Verdecho & Juan-José Alfaro-Saiz, 2020. "A Conceptual Framework to Manage Resilience and Increase Sustainability in the Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-38, August.
    9. Shashi & Piera Centobelli & Roberto Cerchione & Myriam Ertz, 2020. "Managing supply chain resilience to pursue business and environmental strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1215-1246, March.
    10. Zahra Homayouni & Mir Saman Pishvaee & Hamed Jahani & Dmitry Ivanov, 2023. "A robust-heuristic optimization approach to a green supply chain design with consideration of assorted vehicle types and carbon policies under uncertainty," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 324(1), pages 395-435, May.
    11. Jin Shi & Youngwon Park & Ryosuke Sugie & Mitsuhiro Fukuzawa, 2022. "Long-Term Partnerships in Japanese Firms’ Logistics Outsourcing: From a Sustainable Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-13, May.
    12. Dmitry Ivanov, 2022. "Viable supply chain model: integrating agility, resilience and sustainability perspectives—lessons from and thinking beyond the COVID-19 pandemic," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 319(1), pages 1411-1431, December.
    13. Miguel Reyna-Castillo & Alejandro Santiago & Salvador Ibarra Martínez & José Antonio Castán Rocha, 2022. "Social Sustainability and Resilience in Supply Chains of Latin America on COVID-19 Times: Classification Using Evolutionary Fuzzy Knowledge," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(14), pages 1-18, July.
    14. Luis Francisco López-Castro & Elyn L. Solano-Charris, 2021. "Integrating Resilience and Sustainability Criteria in the Supply Chain Network Design. A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-26, September.
    15. Mukesh Kumar & Rakesh D. Raut & Mahak Sharma & Vikas Kumar Choubey & Sanjoy Kumar Paul, 2022. "Enablers for resilience and pandemic preparedness in food supply chain," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 1198-1223, December.
    16. Seyedmohsen Hosseini & Dmitry Ivanov, 2022. "A new resilience measure for supply networks with the ripple effect considerations: a Bayesian network approach," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 319(1), pages 581-607, December.
    17. Rosario Michel-Villarreal & Eliseo Luis Vilalta-Perdomo & Maurizio Canavari & Martin Hingley, 2021. "Resilience and Digitalization in Short Food Supply Chains: A Case Study Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-23, May.
    18. Bhavya Sharma & Murari Lal Mittal & Gunjan Soni & Bharti Ramtiyal, 2023. "An Implementation Framework for Resiliency Assessment in a Supply Chain," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 24(4), pages 591-614, December.
    19. Shraddha Mishra & Surya Prakash Singh, 2022. "A stochastic disaster-resilient and sustainable reverse logistics model in big data environment," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 319(1), pages 853-884, December.
    20. João Pires Ribeiro & Ana Paula F. D. Barbosa-Póvoa, 2023. "A responsiveness metric for the design and planning of resilient supply chains," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 324(1), pages 1129-1181, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:9:p:7254-:d:1134008. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.