Dynamic Modeling and Heuristic Control Strategy for Decentralized Supply Chains

A framework for dynamic decentralized supply chains was established, and this framework was able to reproduce the amplification problem observed in real systems, and was able to reproduce the tradeoff observed between the stability and customer satisfaction level vs cost. The systematic decision making processes for improving the performance of supply chains was designed. The implementation of a hybrid simulation tool to analyze the behavior and response of entire supply chains under different conditions was demonstrated. The paper analyzed the impacts of different heuristic control laws on the performance of decentralized supply chains, compared their performance in terms of operational costs, ability to maintain a high customer satisfaction level, and stability of inventories in simulation.