Journal of Applied Mathematics
Volume 2011 (2011), Article ID 325690, 14 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/325690
Research Article

Modeling and Analysis of Material Flows in Re-Entrant Supply Chain Networks Using Modified Partial Differential Equations

Fenglan He,1 Ming Dong,2 and Xiaofeng Shao2

1Department of Industrial Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China
2Department of Operations Management, Antai College of Economics & Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 535 Fahua Zhen Road, Shanghai 200052, China

Received 12 December 2010; Accepted 8 January 2011

Academic Editor: Shuyu Sun

Copyright © 2011 Fenglan He et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The basic partial differential equation (PDE) models for supply chain networks with re-entrant nodes and their macroscopic are proposed. However, through numerical examples, the basic continuum models do not perform well for multiple re-entrant systems. Then, a new state equation considering the re-entrant degree of the products is introduced to improve the effectiveness of the basic continuum models. The applicability of the modified continuum models for re-entrant supply chains is illustrated through numerical examples. Finally, based on the modified continuum model, numerical examples of different re-entrant degrees are given, meanwhile, the changes in the WIP and outflux are analyzed in details for multiple re-entrant supply chain systems.