Healthcare Supply Chain Simulation with Disruption Considerations: A Case Study from Northern Italy

Riccardo Aldrighetti (), Ilenia Zennaro, Serena Finco and Daria Battini
Additional contact information
Riccardo Aldrighetti: University of Padova
Ilenia Zennaro: University of Padova
Serena Finco: University of Padova
Daria Battini: University of Padova

Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 2019, vol. 20, issue 1, No 5, 102 pages

Abstract: Abstract Healthcare supply chains (HSCs) have often been considered different from the usual supply chains (SCs) due to their high level of complexity, the presence of high-valuable medical materials and, finally, the fact that they deal with human lives. Furthermore, HSCs are not excluded from the increasing competitivity that is typical of the modern environment: International Healthcare systems are under increasing pressure to reduce waste and eliminate unnecessary costs while improving the quality and consistency of the care they provide to patient. The aim of this work is to analyse the impact of severe disruptions on SC performance in a Healthcare Supply Chain. More specifically, the objective of this study is to develop an approach to firstly analyse the effects of disruptions in terms of financial and operational performances, and successively to test different proactive and reactive mitigation strategies with the aim to maintain the highest service level, closed to 100%, in order to avoid shortages in hospitals’ wards. Disruptions can have a crucial impact on HSCs, because human lives can possibly be at the stake. Considering that the occurrence of disastrous events has been increasing in the last years, it is becoming inevitable to consider this risk in designing and planning HSCs that are more flexible and resilient. This work demonstrates that for long-lasting disruption, activating a backup supplier represents the most efficient mitigation strategy; on the other hand, for small-scale and short-duration disruptions, lateral transshipment represents a good way to mitigate the negative impacts of disruptions against a little increase in costs.

Keywords: Case study; Centralized distribution network; Disruption; Healthcare supply chain; Mitigation strategy; Simulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40171-019-00223-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:gjofsm:v:20:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s40171-019-00223-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/40171

DOI: 10.1007/s40171-019-00223-8

Access Statistics for this article

Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management is currently edited by Sushil

More articles in Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management from Springer, Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().