The worldwide economic disturbance has intensified the petroleum industry�s global market\r\nconstraints in terms of price instability, excess capacity, demand shifts as well as environmental\r\nregulation. Petroleum transportation, as the central logistics operation linking the upstream and\r\ndownstream functions has been paid more attention to. This paper develops a decision support system\r\n(DSS) by combining both inventory and transportation operations in petroleum transportation system. It\r\nis based upon the integration of discrete event simulation using ARENA software and the stochastic\r\noptimal control of the inventory using visual basic applications (VBA)/transportation system. A unifying\r\nsimulation framework that integrates the simulation model and controller is constructed to simulate the\r\ncontrolled inventory/transportation system. The simulation results provide a useful tool for decision\r\nmakers to evaluate strategies and policies for the design and operation of the systems, with valuable\r\ninsights into the behavior of the dynamic and stochastic system. Additionally, it sheds some light on\r\nbusiness renovation, the effective utilization of information technology and the role of business\r\nprocess modeling in supply chain integration project in oil industry.
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