Adjusting the nuclear reactor's neutron transport and diffusion theory for an alternative description and modelling of postage or supplies delivery processes

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel analogy between nuclear reactor neutron transport theory and supply chain processes, aiming to model, analyze, and optimize supply systems using deterministic methods inspired by reactor physics.

Contribution

It introduces a new modeling approach that transfers neutron transport concepts to supply chain analysis, providing a deterministic framework for identifying flaws and optimizing supply processes.

Findings

Model describes losses and interactions in supply chains.

Analogy factors and interactors are estimated for system analysis.

Potential for deterministic optimization of supply systems.

Abstract

There seems to exist significant similarities between a reactor system and a supply chain from collection to delivery. In the reactor case, neutrons are continuously produced and absorbed in nuclear fuel. In a supply system case, items are continuously collected and continuously delivered to destinations. Stable reactor operation is ensured by keeping the ratio of neutrons produced to neutrons absorbed in the reactor equal to one. Profitable and qualitative supply operation is ensured by keeping the ratio of items delivered to items collected as close to unity as possible. The analogy between the two systems is obvious. This text, which is provided as is and has not undergone any peer review process, proposes transferring parts of the nuclear reactor's neutron transport and diffusion theory to deterministically model supply processes. To this end a set of assumptions and definitions are provided as needed along with the introduction of reactions or interactions like collections, deliveries, and losses occurring into the supply chain. The interaction rates are calculated with the method used in reactors employing analogy factors and interactors with which the items in the chain interact. The main aim is to describe losses escape in steady state and in parallel estimate the analogy factors and optimize for the correct selection of the interactors pool. The model as proposed seems to be a tool for a different insight method into supply problems. The model, if proven and applied, is discussed to be a strong optimization tool, which could deterministically pinpoint flaws in existing supply systems or stochastically efficiently organize proposed supplied chains.