A robust optimization approach to reduce the bullwhip effect of supply chains with vendor order placement lead time delays in an uncertain environment

Supply chain management is important for companies and organizations to improve their business and enhance competitiveness in the global marketplace. The bullwhip effect problem of supply chain systems with vendor order placement lead time delays in an uncertain environment is addressed in this paper. Among the numerous causes of bullwhip effect, we focus on uncertainties with respect to demand, production process, supply chain structure, inventory policy implementation and especially vendor order placement lead time delays. Minimizing the negative effect of these uncertainties in inducing bullwhip effect creates a need for developing dynamical inventory policy that increases responsiveness to demand and decreases volatility in inventory replenishment. First, a dynamic model of supply chain with above uncertainties is developed. Then, a novel uncertainty-dependent robust inventory control method using inventory position information is proposed. Additionally, the maximum allowable vendor order placement lead time delay that ensures the stability of supply chains and the suppression of bullwhip effect under the proposed inventory control policy is explored and measured. We find that vendor order placement lead time delays do play important role in supply chain dynamics and contribute to its turbulence and volatility. The effectiveness and flexibility of proposed method is verified through simulation study.     

Demand forecasting and sharing strategies to reduce fluctuations and the bullwhip effect in supply chains

Supply chain inventories are prone to fluctuations and instability. Known as the bullwhip effect, small variations in the end item demand create oscillations that amplify throughout the chain. By using system dynamics simulation, we investigate some of the structural sources of the bullwhip effect, and explore the effectiveness of information sharing to eliminate the undesirable fluctuations. Extensive simulation analysis is carried out on parameters of some standard ordering policies, as well as external demand and lead-time parameters. Simulation results show that (i) a major structural cause of the bullwhip effect is isolated demand forecasting performed at each echelon of the supply chain, and (ii) demand and forecast sharing strategies can significantly reduce the bullwhip effect, even though they cannot completely eliminate it. We specifically show how each policy is improved by demand and forecast sharing. Future research involves more advanced ordering and forecasting methods, modelling of other well-known sources of bullwhip, and more complex supply network structures.     

Application of machine learning techniques for supply chain demand forecasting

Full collaboration in supply chains is an ideal that the participant firms should try to achieve. However, a number of factors hamper real progress in this direction. Therefore, there is a need for forecasting demand by the participants in the absence of full information about other participants’ demand. In this paper we investigate the applicability of advanced machine learning techniques, including neural networks, recurrent neural networks, and support vector machines, to forecasting distorted demand at the end of a supply chain (bullwhip effect). We compare these methods with other, more traditional ones, including naïve forecasting, trend, moving average, and linear regression. We use two data sets for our experiments: one obtained from the simulated supply chain, and another one from actual Canadian Foundries orders. Our findings suggest that while recurrent neural networks and support vector machines show the best performance, their forecasting accuracy was not statistically significantly better than that of the regression model.     

由零售商负责回收的多期闭环供应链网络均衡

本文研究了零售商回收模式下多期闭环供应链网络均衡问题。制造商通过零售渠道将产品销售给消费者,以满足消费市场需求,同时消费产生的废旧品由零售商回收返回制造商处进行再制造,通过产品库存和回收废旧品连接相邻规划期。运用变分不等式理论和互补理论,分别刻画了制造市场、零售市场和消费市场的均衡,接着构建了多期闭环供应链网络均衡模型。利用变分不等式的投影收缩算法,对模型进行求解。算例着重分析了废旧品利用率对网络均衡状态和供应链成员利润的影响。结果表明:当制造商的废旧品利用率逐渐增加时,回收量逐渐增加,制造商的利润先减后增,零售商利润一直增加,而供应链总利润一直增加,供应链网络中的最优决策变量主要受到回收量约束的影响。     

大规模风电并网的双供应源电力供应链牛鞭效应分析

中国当前的电力供应链除具有部分垄断特征外,还由于大规模风电并网使得电力供给也出现随机性,它与随机需求一起影响了供应链信息的准确传递,在电力供应链产生了牛鞭效应,但对这类问题的研究极少。本文在分析中国电力供应链特点的基础上,构建了由煤炭供应企业、发电厂(火力发电和风力发电)和用户组成的多级电力供应链模型,揭示了牛鞭效应在单/双供应源两种供应链类型下的变化。研究结果表明,大规模风电并网形成的双供应源电力供应链牛鞭效应较大且波动剧烈,尤其当下游用户需求较平稳时,供应链会出现牛鞭效应与反牛鞭效应共存现象,而预测技术的选择、风电场合理规划等有助于抑制牛鞭效应,保证电力安全并减小资源浪费。     

三级供应链企业间交叉持股时均衡定价及市场绩效研究

本文构建三级供应链企业间纵向交叉持股时的Stackelberg定价博弈模型,采用逆推归纳法推演出供应链各厂商交叉持股时的均衡定价及其利润公式,分析了交叉持股对三级供应链均衡市场价格、厂商利润、消费者剩余和经济福利的影响。研究结果表明,较之无交叉持股,仅下游厂商对上游厂商单向持股,对供应链的绩效没有影响;而适当增大上游厂商对下游厂商持股,限制下游厂商对上游厂商持股,能有效降低市场价格,提高供应链及各厂商的利润,增加消费者剩余,改善经济福利,实现供应链各厂商与消费者的共赢。     

Reverse bullwhip effect in pricing

Price variability is one of the major causes of the bullwhip effect. This paper analyzes the impact of procurement price variability in the upstream of a supply chain on the downstream retail prices. Procurement prices may fluctuate over time, for example, when the supply chain players deploy auction type procurement mechanisms, or if the prices are dictated in market exchanges. A game theory framework is used here to model a serial supply chain. Sequential price game scenarios are investigated to show that there is an increase in retail price variability and an amplified reverse bullwhip effect on prices (RBP) under certain demand conditions.     

Measure of bullwhip effect in supply chains with autoregressive demand process

In supply chain management, one of the most critical problems which require a lot of effort to deal with is how to quantify and alleviate the impact of bullwhip effect – the phenomenon in which information on demand is distorted while moving upstream. Although it is well established that demand forecast, lead time, order batching, shortage gaming and price fluctuation are the main sources that lead to the bullwhip effect, the problem of quantifying bullwhip effect still remain unsolved in many situations due to the complex nature of the problem. In this research, a measure of bullwhip effect will be developed for a simple two-stage supply chain that includes only one retailer and one supplier in the environment where the retailer employs base stock policy for their inventory and demand forecast is performed through the first-order autoregressive model, AR(1). The effect of autoregressive coefficient and lead time on this measure will then be investigated.     

The effect of replenishment policies on the bullwhip effect: A transfer function approach

An important phenomenon in supply chain management, known as the bullwhip effect, suggests that demand variability increases as one moves up a supply chain. This paper examines the influence of different replenishment policies on the occurrence of the bullwhip effect. The paper demonstrates that certain replenishment policies can in themselves be inducers of the bullwhip effect, while others inherently lower demand variability. The main causes of increase in variability are projections of future demand expectations, which result in over-exaggerated responses to changes in demand. We suggest that through appropriate selection and use of certain replenishment rules, the bullwhip effect can be avoided, subsequently allowing supply chain management costs to be lowered.     

供应链交互作用对牛鞭效应的影响分析

考虑两平行供应链系统,建立了需求依赖于两种产品价格的需求函数模型,分析了平行供应链交互作用对牛鞭效应的影响。研究表明:(1)供应链交互作用可能增加或减弱牛鞭效应。(2)对于具有产品可替代性的两竞争型供应链系统,若产品价格交互敏感性不强,则较大协方差的引入可以抑制牛鞭效应。(3)对于具有产品互补性的两合作型供应链系统,若产品价格交互敏感性较强,则较小协方差的引入可以抑制牛鞭效应。     

牛鞭效应弱化与反牛鞭效应强化在完美信息下联合作用的博弈

在供应链运作过程中,同时存在牛鞭效应与反牛鞭效,若仅考虑到供应链的成本、需求偏差等问题,这种存在会因有限理性的驱使使得牛鞭效应弱化与反牛鞭效应强化.因此,认为供应链的上下游在周期内会表现出牛鞭效应弱化与反牛鞭效应强化的联合作用,联合作用使得单个企业达到低平均库存成本,也意味着供应链的整体库存最低且整体市场需求偏差最低,间接地、自动地从整体上消除牛鞭效应或反牛鞭效应,使得整条供应链不管是短期的还是长期来看是最佳的,若是长期,还会给供应链企业带来显著的战略优势.     

A measure of bullwhip effect in supply chains with a mixed autoregressive-moving average demand process

In this paper, we quantify the impact of the bullwhip effect – the phenomenon in which information on demand is distorted as moving up a supply chain – for a simple two-stage supply chain with one supplier and one retailer. Assuming that the retailer employs a base stock inventory policy, and that the demand forecast is performed via a mixed autoregressive-moving average model, ARMA(1, 1), we investigate the effects of the autoregressive coefficient, the moving average parameter, and the lead time on the bullwhip effect.     

Nonlinear modeling and performance analysis of a closed-loop supply chain in the presence of stochastic noise

ABSTRACT

We study four-echelon supply chains consisting of manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer and customer with recovery center as hybrid recycling channels. In order to gain a larger market share, the retailer often takes the sales as a decision-making variable. For this purpose, in this supply chain, the retailer limits the forecast of market demand in future periods with expected logic. It also manages demand by leveraging prices and choosing market. In this paper, first, we investigate the state-space model of this supply chain system and examine the effect of complex dynamic and stochastic noise on the bullwhip effect. We analytically prove that this factor leads to the bullwhip effect. So, first, we filtered the information between nodes with extended Kalman filter after which we regulated the destructive effects of the bullwhip phenomenon by designing a non-linear quadratic Gaussian optimal controller. Eventually, the simulation results indicate the efficiency of the proposed method.     

Controlling the bullwhip effect in a supply chain system with constrained information flows

The bullwhip effect problem is one of the most important issues in supply chain management. Limited information sharing increases the difficulty of reducing the bullwhip effect and leads to inefficient supply chain management. The purpose of this paper is to explore new ways to reduce the bullwhip effect in supply chain systems that face uncertainties with respect to information sharing. We first present a supply chain state transition model, based on which we explore the endogenous mechanism of bullwhip effect, especially those related to impacts from limited information sharing. Then we propose a novel inventory control method and study the corresponding control optimization problem, with the aim of reducing inventory volatility in supply chains. Both quantitative analysis and simulation study are conducted. Simulation results show the effectiveness and flexibility of our proposed method in reducing bullwhip effect and in improving supply chain performance, even under conditions of limited information sharing.     

The incremental bullwhip effect of operational deviations in an arborescent supply chain with requirements planning

Lee et al. (1997) advocated the idea of sharing demand and order information among different supply chain entities to mitigate the bullwhip effect. Even with full supply chain visibility afforded by IT systems with requirements planning and with no information distortion, we identify a “core” bullwhip effect inherent to any supply chain because of the underlying demand characteristics and replenishment lead times. In addition, we quantify an incremental bullwhip effect as various operational deviations (inaccurate order placements, batching, lag in sharing demand forecast) contribute incrementally to the variance of the order quantity not only at the node where the deviation is taking place but also at all upstream supply chain nodes. We discuss some managerial implications of our results in the context of a UK manufacturer.     

Analyzing the behavior of the bullwhip effect considering different distribution systems

Recently, researchers have shown increased interest in quantifying the bullwhip effect, and several attempts have been made to alleviate this phenomenon within supply chain management; however, absent from the current literature surrounding this topic is an in-depth analysis of the impact of different distribution systems, particularly cross-docking systems, upon the behavior of the bullwhip effect. This research aims to investigate the measure of the bullwhip effect in three different supply-chains; (I) with a central warehouse, (II) with a cross-docking system, and (III) without any distribution systems. These three different supply chains are subsequently analyzed to discover which supply chain helps reduce the bullwhip effect more. In doing so, the reasoning here is based on the premise that the demand process follows a mixed autoregressive-moving average model and all the stages employ the base stock policy for inventory replenishment, if necessary. In addition, the above mentioned supply chains are assumed to have two members in the retailer stage, with a different market share of the customer demand. It was found that factors such as lead time, market share of each retailer, autoregressive coefficient and moving average parameter contribute to the selection of the most effective distribution system.     

Managing the order pipeline to reduce supply chain volatility

The bullwhip effect in particular, and supply chain volatility in general, has been the subject of much analytical and empirical investigation by researchers. One goal of this work has been to determine supply chain designs and policies that minimize volatility. Using a system dynamics approach, we use three distinct supply chain volatility metrics to compare the ability of two alternative pipeline inventory management policies to respond to a demand shock. The results indicate that no one policy dominates on all three metrics of supply chain volatility. A simplistic static pipeline policy minimizes the bullwhip effect and lessens the likelihood of on-hand inventory oscillations, while a more sophisticated dynamic pipeline policy may converge more rapidly to the new equilibrium. In addition, simulation results suggest that the dynamic policy provides better customer service through fewer stockouts and backorders.     

基于风险偏好的供应链企业社会责任投入与定价策略研究

本文研究制造商承担企业社会责任时,竞争市场下供应链的均衡价格策略。通过Stackelberg博弈模型,探讨供应链成员的风险规避程度、竞争市场的需求波动性和竞争市场的需求相关性以及制造商企业社会责任水平对供应链均衡策略的影响。研究表明,在制造商承担企业社会责任时,风险规避程度对价格策略的影响依赖于制造商企业社会责任水平的高低;竞争市场的需求波动性较大或竞争市场需求相关性较高时,制造商向下游风险规避型零售商提供较低的批发价格合约, 此时产品的市场价格降低,消费者福利增加;当制造商的生产成本较低时,承担越高的企业社会责任导致消费者福利增加;反之,当制造商的生产成本较高时,消费者福利总是减少。     

Modeling and analysis of the causes of bullwhip effect in centralized and decentralized supply chain using response surface method

The “bullwhip” effect is a major cause of supply chain deficiencies. This phenomenon refers to grow the amplification of demand or inventory variability as it moves up the supply chain. Supply chain managers experience this variance amplification in both inventory levels and orders. Other side, dampening variance in orders may have a negative impact on customer service due to the increase in the inventory variance. This paper with simulating a three stage supply chains consisting of a single retailer, single wholesaler and single manufacturer under both centralized and decentralized chains. In this paper, it is intended to analysis the causes of bullwhip effect from two dimensions of order and inventory variance using the response surface methodology. The results show that in both supply chains, rationing factor is considered as the least important cause of bullwhip effect. While the wholesaler’s order batching and the chain’s order batching are considered as the main causes for the bullwhip effect in the decentralized and centralized chains, respectively.     

基于MAS协作机制的动态计算资源调度模型

针对网格环境的自治性、动态性、分布性和异构性等特征.提出基于多智能体系统(Mutil Agent System,MAS)博弈协作的资源动态分配和任务调度模型,建立了能够反映供求关系的网格资源调度模型和任务求解算法,证明了资源分配博弈中Nash均衡点的存在性、唯一性和Nash均衡解,该方法能够利用消费者agent的学习和协商能力,考虑和引入消费者的心理行为,使得消费者的资源申请和任务调度具有较高的合理性和有效性.实验结果表明,资源调度算法不但可以有效减少不必要的延迟,而且在响应时间的平滑性、吞吐率及资源利用率方面比传统算法要好,从而使得整个资源的供需合理、负载均衡.