Research summary
A coordination mechanism is a means of sharing information about a mutual task or forming common methods to synchronize work activities. In supply chain management, coordination mechanisms—such as logistics synchronization, price, flow coordination, information-sharing, and joint decision-making—are ways to improve performance. However, the complexity of information availability and outcome uncertainty in the design elements of these mechanisms are not well understood.
To address this, Dr. Salar Ghamat, Canada Research Chair in Business Analytics in Supply Chain, is examining how deep reinforcement learning can be used to establish practical coordination mechanisms and information-sharing strategies based on the real world. He and his research team are studying the effectiveness of machine learning algorithms in supply, health and service networks. Their findings will contribute significantly to our knowledge in these areas.