An Open Source Java Code For Visualizing Supply ChainProblems

Abstract

In this paper, we decribe an open source Java class library for visualizing supply chain problems within a geographical context. The highly competitive markets and recent technological advances make the use of such supply chain network visualizations critical in both strategic and tactical levels. The most mportant characteristic of our work is its easy integration with any Java application. Our software differs from any other commercial and open source supply chain visualization tool by its simple structure, easy adoption and implementation and high compatibility. The main motivation of our study was to develop a simple – yet effective – library that would not require to learn and apply complicated visualization tools and data structures such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS). In this study, we illustrate the use of our visualization tool through maps of Turkey, Europe, North and South America, the United States and the NAFTA. We believe that ease of visualization offered by our open source tool will contribute to a multitude of projects in supply chain design, as well as increasing productive communication among practitioners, especially involved in strategic level decision making processes. We foresee that our supply chain visualization tool will fill a gap in this area with its simple but effective structure.