The Impacts of Product Architecture and Logistics Techniques on Supply Chain Resilience and Ripple Effect

Background: Supply chain (SC) ability to recover from disruption (i.e., resilience) is vital for thriving businesses, thus its relevance. This study investigates how resilience to disruption and disruption propagation (i.e., ripple effect (RE)) are influenced by product architecture (PA) and logistics strategies. Methods: Four SC configurations, derived from structural combinations of PA (integral and modular) with two logistics techniques (inventory storage and cross-docking), were generated using discrete-event simulation in FlexSim. Each SC configuration was subjected to five scenarios: no disruption; isolated disruptions at the distribution center (DC) and at the manufacturer; simultaneous disruptions; and sequential disruptions. Results: The results indicated a smoother recovery and lower post-disruption back-order rates for modular PA than for integral PA. Inventory buffering was higher in SC networks with DC storage than in those with cross-docking. The study found increased downstream and upstream disruption propagation under sequential disruptions, illustrating RE. Conclusions: The study suggests that integrating PA with logistics strategies early in supply chain design may improve recovery and overall supply chain performance.