A mathematical definition and basic structures for supply chain reliability: A procurement capability perspective

Supply chain reliability has been receiving increasing attention in recent years, as it might provide a theoretical background for quantifying supply chain risks and uncertainties. However, most previous researches on supply chain reliability only focus on some reliability issue for limited supply chain structure without any general definition of supply chain reliability. This limitation makes it difficult to apply the theoretically well-established reliability engineering methodologies to various assessment and optimization problems related to supply chain reliability and risk. To tackle the issue, this paper provides a mathematical definition on supply chain reliability and relevant functions based on the traditional reliability theory, and subsequently, the basic structural reliability models for various types of supply chains. This paper also verifies that the proposed functions and structural reliability models are applicable to various types of supply chain with a case study of a computer assembly company.