Adding Sourcing Policies via the Sourcing Tables
In a supply chain model, sourcing policies describe how network components create and order necessary materials. In Cosmic Frog, sourcing policies appear in two different table categories:
Sourcing
In this section, we will discuss how to use the Sourcing policy tables to incorporate real-world behavior. In the sourcing policy tables we define 4 different policy types:
- Customer fulfillment policies
- Replenishment policies
- Procurement policies
- Production policies
Customer fulfillment policies
Customer fulfillment policies describe which supply chain elements fulfill customer demand. For a Throg (Simulation) run, there are 3 different policy types that we can select in the “SimulationPolicy” column:
- By preference
- Single source
- Allocation
If “By Preference” is selected, we can provide a ranking describing which sites we want to serve customers for different products. We can describe our preference using the “SimulationPolicyValue” column.
In the following example we are describing how to serve customer CZ_CA’s demand. For Product_1, we prefer that demand is fulfilled by DC_AZ. If that is not possible, then we prefer DC_IL to fulfill demand. We can provide rankings for each customer and product combination.
Under this policy, the model will source material from the highest ranked site that can completely fill an order. If no sites can completely fill an order, and if partial fulfillment is allowed, the model will partially fill orders from multiple sources in order of their preference.
If “Single Source” is selected, the customer must receive the given product from a specific customer.
The “Allocation” policy is similar to the “By Preference” policy, in that it sources from sites in order of a preference ranking. The “Allocation” policy, however, does look to see whether any sites can completely fill an order before doing partial fulfillment. Instead, it will source as much as possible from source 1, followed by source 2, etc. Note that the “Allocation” and “By Preference” policies will only be distinct if partial fulfillment is allowed for the customer/product combination.
Replenishment policies
Replenishment policies describe how internal (i.e. non-customer) supply chain elements source material from other internal sources. For example, they might describe how a distribution center gets material from a manufacturing site. They are analogous to customer fulfillment policies, except instead of requiring a customer name, they require a facility name.
Procurement policies
Procurement policies describe how internal (i.e. non-customer) supply chain elements source material from external suppliers. They are analogous to replenishment policies, except instead of using internal sources (e.g. manufacturing sites), they use external suppliers.
Production policies
Production policies allow us to describe how material is generated within our supply chain.
There are 4 simulation policies regarding production:
- Make by demand
- Make by schedule
- Make by demand and schedule
- Continuous production
“Make by Demand” triggers production events based on sourcing policies that pull from the site, “Make by Schedule” triggers production at pre-specified lot sizes and intervals, and “Make by Demand and Schedule” combines both policies.
“Continuous production” continuously triggers production orders of the amount specified in the “Lot Size” field as soon as the production of the previous lot is completed.