Simulation modeling of the counterfeit threat and countermeasures in ICT manufacturing supply chains

There has been great concern about building resilient supply chains to expedite the supply chain's recovery after a crisis or disruption. Few attempts, however, were made to study the resiliency of a supply chain after disruptions caused by counterfeit parts, especially in critical domains like information and communication that are embedded in almost every aspect of our daily lives and critical life-supporting systems. Counterfeits will penetrate a supply chain at one of the suppliers' or manufacturers' points. Hence, rigorous countermeasures should be taken at these stages. The aim of this paper is to analyze the performance of an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) manufacturing supply chain that is vulnerable to the counterfeit threat. To achieve this, a hybrid simulation model is developed to measure the effectiveness of specific, representative countermeasures that have been introduced. The performance measures considered include the system's service levels, delivery time, and the proportion of good products (products free of counterfeit parts). The findings of the study indicate that the countermeasures have a positive impact on the supply chain's resiliency. The simulation model can be extended to other structures of supply chain networks, thereby enabling manufacturers to adopt the most effective countermeasures to ensure the resilience of their supply chains. (c) 2023 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER Ltd.