Robust optimal control of material flows in demand-driven supply networks

Marco Laumanns and Erjen Lefeber

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2006, vol. 363, issue 1, 24-31

Abstract: We develop a model based on stochastic discrete-time controlled dynamical systems in order to derive optimal policies for controlling the material flow in supply networks. Each node in the network is described as a transducer such that the dynamics of the material and information flows within the entire network can be expressed by a system of first-order difference equations, where some inputs to the system act as external disturbances. We apply methods from constrained robust optimal control to compute the explicit control law as a function of the current state. For the numerical examples considered, these control laws correspond to certain classes of optimal ordering policies from inventory management while avoiding, however, any a priori assumptions about the general form of the policy.

Keywords: Supply networks; Discrete dynamical systems; Constrained robust optimal control; Multi-parametric programming (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:363:y:2006:i:1:p:24-31

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2006.01.045

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