A H-infinity approach for the control of a Supply Chain model with limited resources

In a previous paper we developed a H_∞ control approach for a simple Supply Chain model, linearized about typical operative conditions, and fed with an exogenous and unknown demand. This paper provides an extension by considering: 1) a more complex supply chain model, comprising a limitation in the transportation and production resources; 2) an improved version of the previous H-infinity control scheme, which allows the possibility of selecting the noise frequencies to be reduced. The considered approach has been compared with other emerging control techniques in terms of a performance index defined on the inventory levels in the Supply Chain. Robustness issues, regarding the knowledge of the production and transport delays in the chain, are considered in the paper, and a properly modified H_∞ technique is proposed to deal with uncertain and/or time varying delays.