An Adaptive Multi-Echelon Inventory Control Model for Nonstationary Demand Process

In this paper, we deal with an inventory model of a multi-stage, serial supply chain system where a single product type and nonstationary customer demand pattern are considered. The retailer and suppliers place their orders according to an echelon-stock based replenishment control policy. We assume that the suppliers can access online information on the demand history and use this information when making their replenishment decisions. Using a reinforcement learning technique, the inventory control parameters are designed to adaptively change as the customer demand pattern is altered, in order to maintain a given target service level. Through a simulation based experiment, we verified that our approach is good for maintaining the target service level.