arXiv:2608.02343cs.AIcs.LG2026-08

用可微投影方法让强化学习在复杂约束下做出可行的库存决策。

Hard Constraints, Smooth Gradients: Learning Feasible Inventory Policies via Differentiable Projection

  • 神经网络提出连续动作,通过可微凸优化投影到可行域并恢复整数性。
  • 在小规模问题上优化差距低于1%,大规模场景比现有方法降本7.7%以上。
  • 适合有强约束、高复杂度的工业级库存与生产规划问题,如ASML案例。

许多运营问题属于具有大且组合型动作空间、相互依赖可行性约束的序列决策过程。混合整数线性规划(MILPs)虽能灵活处理此类约束,但在随机环境中的扩展性差。深度强化学习(DRL)可提供可扩展的决策规则,但现有方法或仅惩罚约束而非强制执行,或依赖的可行性机制在约束交互时失效。本文通过在策略中嵌入可微凸优化模块来弥合这一差距:神经网络提出连续动作目标,二次规划将其投影至松弛可行集,双变量引导的整数映射恢复整数性同时保持可行性。在可微模拟器下,策略可通过路径梯度端到端训练,同时以类似MILP的灵活性处理硬约束。我们证明该可行性强制机制相对于精确整数投影具有有界误差,并确保整个可行动作空间可达。将方法应用于受共享资源和物料约束的多层级生产-库存规划。在小规模实例上平均最优差距低于1%;在更大网络中,相比最优基线策略最高提升9.75%,优于滚动时域多阶段随机规划至少7.7%。在来自ASML的工业级案例研究中,相比最佳已知基准政策,平均成本降低最多达3.22%。节降效果在产能紧约束、需求波动高的系统中最显著。本工作表明,DRL可在存在复杂硬约束的序列决策问题中实现经济意义重大的优化收益,而这类问题在实践中普遍存在。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Many operational problems are constrained sequential decision processes with large, combinatorial action spaces and interdependent feasibility constraints. Mixed-integer linear programs (MILPs) handle such constraints flexibly but scale poorly in stochastic environments. Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) promises scalable decision rules, but existing methods either penalize constraints rather than enforce them, or rely on feasibility mechanisms that break down once constraints interact. We bridge this gap by embedding a differentiable convex optimization module inside the policy: a neural network proposes continuous action targets, a quadratic program projects them onto the relaxed feasible set, and a dual-informed integer mapping restores integrality while preserving feasibility. Given a differentiable simulator, the policy trains end to end from sampled trajectories using pathwise gradients, while handling hard constraints with similar flexibility to MILPs. We show that our feasibility enforcement has bounded error relative to an exact integer projection and ensures the entire feasible action space is reachable. We apply the method to multi-echelon production-inventory planning under shared resource and material constraints. Our policy attains an average optimality gap below 1% on small instances. It further outperforms state-of-the-art echelon base-stock policies by up to 9.75% and a rolling-horizon multi-stage stochastic program by at least 7.7% in larger networks. On an industry-scale case study from ASML, it reduces average cost by up to 3.22% relative to the best-known benchmark policy. The savings are largest where planning is hardest: in tightly capacitated systems with high demand variability. More broadly, our work shows that DRL can deliver economically significant savings in sequential decision problems with interdependent hard constraints, which are widespread in practice.

强化学习库存优化可微规划工业应用

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