Self-healing Supply Chains: A Bio-Inspired Approach for Sustainable Resource Management
摘要
This paper introduces a bio-inspired system designed to make supply chain management (SCM) more resilient and sustainable. A strong analogy is drawn to glucose homeostasis, a core biological regulatory mechanism. The study maps the push-and-pull of insulin and glucagon to the functions of inventory control and distribution strategy within SCM. This biological inspiration is expressed using equivalent dynamic models—specifically, differential equations—that capture both the glucose-hormone and inventory-distribution relationships. It is shown that this approach can improve resource optimization and system stability through dimensional consistency checks, steady-state analyses, simulation tests, and sensitivity assessments. Key performance indicators, like inventory turnover rates and glucose utilization efficiency metrics, are used to measure the system’s benefits, demonstrating its potential for creating more adaptable and resource-aware supply chains. Early stability tests, using a simplified version of the bio-inspired model, point to the helpful role of system control gains in reducing resource depletion, opening up ways to boost both sustainability and operational efficiency. This research prepares the ground for more resilient, bio-inspired SCM strategies, offering a path towards more sustainable and efficient operations, and encourages further work on digital twin applications of this method.