INVENTORY REGULATION AND SYNCHRONIZATION OF DYNAMIC SUPPLY CHAINS BY NONLINEAR BOUNDED PI CONTROL

A nonlinear bounded PI control for inventory level regulation, and for production and incoming rate synchronization in linear dynamic supply chains is proposed. Control boundedness is required to satisfy physical and operational limitations. The control varies and synchronizes the production and incoming rates while regulating the inventory levels. The dynamic models allow reckoning multi-product and multi-purpose systems by considering production ratios. For regulation purposes, PI techniques are introduced via nominal references. A stability analysis based on linearization is performed. Simulations of a multi-product petrochemical company show the controller performance.