Quantum Computing Methods for Supply Chain Management

TL;DR

This paper explores the application of quantum computing to supply chain management, developing a quantum algorithm for inventory control and analyzing its potential and hardware requirements.

Contribution

It introduces a quantized policy iteration algorithm tailored for supply chain problems and evaluates its effectiveness through simulations.

Findings

Quantum algorithm shows promising results in inventory management

Hardware requirements are discussed for near-term implementation

Simulations demonstrate potential advantages over classical methods

Abstract

Quantum computing is expected to have transformative influences on many domains, but its practical deployments on industry problems are underexplored. We focus on applying quantum computing to operations management problems in industry, and in particular, supply chain management. Many problems in supply chain management involve large state and action spaces and pose computational challenges on classic computers. We develop a quantized policy iteration algorithm to solve an inventory control problem and demonstrative its effectiveness. We also discuss in-depth the hardware requirements and potential challenges on implementing this quantum algorithm in the near term. Our simulations and experiments are powered by \texttt{IBM Qiskit} and the \texttt{qBraid} system.