material flow

Material flow (or "materials flow") is the description of the transportation of raw materials, pre-fabricates, parts, components, integrated objects and final products as a flow of entities.{{Cite web |title=What does Material Flow mean? |url=https://impargo.de/en/glossary/material-flow |access-date=2024-02-20 |website=impargo.de |language=en}} The term applies mainly to advanced modeling of supply chain management and its use has been largely subsumed under this heading.Mills, J., Schmitz, J. and Frizelle, G., [https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/01443570410558058/full/html A strategic review of "supply networks"], International Journal of Operations & Production Management, volume 24, No. 10, 2004, page 1012, accessed on 28 February 2025

As industrial material flow can easily become very complex, several different specialized simulation tools have been developed for complex systems. Typical tools include:

• AnyLogic
• AutoMod for logistics systems
• Plant Simulation for production system.