H_∞ Control of Bullwhip Effect in Cluster Supply Chains under Dynamic Demand

The problem is concerned with that the retailer in one supply chain is replenished by the retailers in other multiple supply chains under the environment of dynamic demand. By integrating across-chain inventory cooperation with time-varying robust control system, the model and quantizing method of Bullwhip effect under the across-chain inventory cooperation in multi-echelon cluster supply chains were established. And the optimal orders in the “bad” demand were explored by robust control theory. Through comparative simulating experiment, it is proved that the stock and production (or order) fluctuations may be efficiently weakened by implementing H∞ control and the policy of across-chain emergency inventory transshipments, and the effect of Bullwhip is attenuated as well as the order interval time being shortened, the response capability to market and the customer service level being improved.