Title: Reverse logistics network design under greenness, reliability and refurbished product demand considerations

Authors: Uday Venkatadri; Claver Diallo; Sima Ghayebloo

Addresses: Industrial Engineering, Dalhousie University, Sexton Campus 208, 5269 Morris Street, P.O. Box 15000 Halifax NS B3H, 4R2, Canada ' Industrial Engineering, Dalhousie University, Sexton Campus 208, 5269 Morris Street, P.O. Box 15000 Halifax NS B3H, 4R2, Canada ' Mechanical Engineering, University of Zanjan, University Blvd., Zanjan Postal Code: 45371-38791, I.R., Iran

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present a new closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) network design model for multi-component and multi-product systems. This integrated model is more representative of industrial operations and takes into account the following important design factors: multi-component products, design for disassembly, existence of a secondary market for refurbished products, bill of material for product decomposition into parts, reliability and greenness levels of parts/products. A mixed-integer programming model is developed for a forward/reverse logistic network that includes suppliers, customer zones, inspection, repair and disassembly centres (IRDC), and a recycling centre. A wide range of numerical experiments are conducted and sensitivity analyses are carried out on various parameters yielding valuable managerial insights. The model is used to expose the effects of parts reliability and product greenness on the reverse flow and the economical operating market range for refurbished products in the reverse flow.

Keywords: network design; part reliability; product greenness; refurbished products; reverse logistics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAL.2017.084285

International Journal of Automation and Logistics, 2017 Vol.3 No.1, pp.33 - 54

Received: 10 Jun 2015
Accepted: 24 Jun 2015

Published online: 24 May 2017 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article