Supply Chain Modeling with REA

Lack of integration between different partners in supply chains prevent companies from reaping the large economic benefits of their collaboration. In this paper, we propose the Resource-Event-Agent (REA) model as modeling tool to capture the complexity of supply chains. By extending previous, simple versions of REA, we show that the model can be useful when modeling Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) which is a subset of the general field of Supply Chain Management (SCM). Our REA-extensions provide a foundation for capturing operational data and supports sophisticated reporting and performance measurements. Specifically, we introduce the concept of Location and Transport in the REA ontology. Finally, we relate our work to previous REA concepts and propose a general taxonomy for REA event types.