A Robust Hα Control Method for Analyzing the Bullwhip Effect of the Reverse Logistics Supply Chain

A dynamic model of the reverse logistics supply chain is built, which based on two types of inventories: the actual product inventory in a manufacturer and a retailer and the virtual inventory used by a customer. Applying the variance fluctuation, the bullwhip effect in the reverse logistics is quantified. To reduce bullwhip effect, an H^infin control strategy is designed in the worse case of the end customer´s demand fluctuation. The simulation experiment shows that the existence of the reverse logistics increases the bullwhip effect and the more the remanufacturing rate and the gratuitous return rate are large, the more the bullwhip effect is large; And the bullwhip effect in the system is reduced assuredly by the H^infin control strategy