Symmetric Policy Design for Multi-Agent Dispatch Coordination in Supply Chains

Abstract: We study a decentralized dispatch coordination problem in a multi-agent supply chain setting with shared logistics capacity. We propose symmetric (identical) dispatch strategies for all agents, enabling efficient coordination without centralized control. Using a common information approach, we derive a dynamic programming solution that computes optimal symmetric dispatch strategies by transforming the multi-agent problem into a tractable dynamic program on the agents common information state. Simulation results demonstrate that our method significantly reduces coordination cost compared to baseline heuristics, including belief-based strategies and an always-dispatch policy. These findings highlight the benefits of combining symmetric strategy design with a common information-based dynamic programming framework for improving multi-agent coordination performance.