Simulation Modeling Targets Unpredictable Global Supply Chains

Dec. 1, 2003
Atlanta, Georgia, USA -- The Georgia Institute of Technology announced that its Executive Master's in International Logistics (EMIL) program has teamed

Atlanta, Georgia, USA -- The Georgia Institute of Technology announced that its Executive Master's in International Logistics (EMIL) program has teamed with Intel Corporation to support the next generation of supply chain research. EMIL is a master's degree program that helps the world's leading companies develop global logistics solutions by grooming their supply chain executives.

Intel, the world's largest microprocessor manufacturer, and EMIL have worked together since the program was formed. Intel executives have served on the EMIL Advisory Board and have sponsored executives as EMIL Participants since 2000.

Now, Intel and EMIL are teaming up to support global supply chain innovation and state-of-the-art research. In October 2003, the Intel ® Innovation & Education Program granted Georgia Tech's School of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE) $30,000 in computer hardware, including 3.06GHz Workstation 650s with Intel® Xeon processors, for use in the school's ongoing distributed supply chain simulation research spearheaded by Dr. Leon McGinnis, Georgia Tech's Eugine C. Gwaltney Chaired Professor in Manufacturing. In tandem, EMIL's Advisory Board approved funding through the EMIL Scholars Program to support faculty research on the same topic. By combining Intel Architecture-based processors with Georgia Tech's mathematical and engineering expertise, the team will explore the newest frontier in supply chain solutions.

The distributed simulations approach will enable companies to model and manage the unpredictability of their supply chain as never before. In this research effort, individual supply chain elements are represented via independent simulation models capable of communicating with one another, much as factories and warehouses communicate. These simulation models, while running on different computers, interface over the internet using High Level Architecture (HLA), a software infrastructure for support of distributed simulation.

"By increasing the depth of the relationship between EMIL and Intel, we are building new capabilities that allow us to model our businesses as never before," stated Jim Kellso, Manager of Supply Network Research at Intel. "Georgia Tech excels in the engineering and mathematical expertise needed to analyze supply networks while Intel offers the advanced technology needed to make complex simulations possible."

For additional information on EMIL and the distributed simulation research go to http://www.emil.gatech.edu