Simphony supply chain simulator: A toolkit for modeling supply chain coordination and information sharing

Challenges laid upon firms and corporations by increasing consumers' expectations in today's highly competitive markets; make them try to adopt new strategies in order to improve their productivity and profitability. One of the research disciplines developed in order to address such challenges is supply chain management. By adopting SCM concepts and ideas, firms are trying to integrate their core competencies with those of their suppliers and customers. Quantifying gains and losses of employing any policy in a supply chain requires modeling that supply chain. Simulation has long been an accepted approach in modeling supply chains. This thesis presents a research effort aiming to develop a simulation toolkit which provides researchers and practitioners with the opportunity to simulate and investigate different aspects of different supply chains. This thesis also focuses on the applications of supply chain concepts in construction industry by modeling a construction project's supply chain using the developed simulation toolkit.