A SYSTEMS DYNAMICS APPROACH TO MODELLING IN THE AUSTRALIAN BEEF SUPPLY CHAIN By:

This paper describes the Australian Beef supply chain and notes some of the major concerns expressed by agents in the supply chain. The paper then outlines the systems dynamics approach, its potential benefits and dangers and then discusses a simple model of the production process within the supply chain. We show how the systems modelling approach, utilizing the Vensim ® software application can be used to develop insights into operations of the supply chain. The paper closes with a discussion of the research direction in supply chain modelling that will be followed by this group.-1-Australian beef supply chain Beef supply chain management is the integration of beef producers, beef processors, retailers and end customers. The cattle move from feedlot/farms to processors who transform them into beef products and organise delivery into the hands of end customers. Smith (2001) indicates that this supply chain included: seedstock generators, cow/calf producers, stockers/backgrounders, feedlot operators, packers, processors, supermarket operators and food-service providers. In this paper we look at one section of the supply chain, the interaction between a generic supplier and the processor. Further work following from this paper will however consider the full supply chain, and we briefly describe this in the following section and in Figure 1. There are four stages of Australian beef supply chain framework: Breeding, backgrounding, fattening and feedlot