Title: Optimal control of a hybrid periodic-review production inventory system with disposal

Authors: A. Foul, L. Tadj

Addresses: Department of Statistics and Operations Research, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia. ' Department of Statistics and Operations Research, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: Due to growing environmental consciousness, limited availability of natural resources and enormous cost of waste disposal, recycling and remanufacturing of products are becoming more and more important. Reverse logistics is the process of producing and recycling a product. In this paper, a special structure reverse logistics system is considered. It contains two stocks. Items are subject to deterioration in either stock and the deterioration rate may be unknown. Units that can not be remanufactured are disregarded. The optimal control approach is developed to determine the optimal manufacturing, remanufacturing and disposal rates under a certain cost function. Illustrative examples are presented.

Keywords: inventory systems; periodic review; deterioration; disposal rates; optimal control; parameter identification; operational research; recycling; remanufacturing; reverse logistics; end-of-life products.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOR.2007.014175

International Journal of Operational Research, 2007 Vol.2 No.4, pp.481 - 494

Published online: 24 Jun 2007 *

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