Online simulation based decision support system for resource failure management in multi-site production environments

Planning in a multi-site, non-mass production environment is a special challenge because of several sources of uncertainty. Unlike in mass production facilities, in our setting the current state is not easily and exactly known when the case of re-planning occurs. The planning procedure has to contribute to that fact, as well as to further uncertainties concerning the effects of a plan when evaluating the plan. Thus in this work, we apply online simulation as means for re-planning multi-site production in the case of resource failure. This work is a first step where two alternatives are considered when a resource fails: either wait for repair of the resource, or transport another instance of this resource from another site, if there is more than one available. Our study shows that the planning using online simulation is superior to a static strategy such as `always wait for repair' or `always import resource' in case of resource failure.