Title: Metrics for performance measurement of a reverse/closed-loop supply chain

Authors: Kishore K. Pochampally, Surendra M. Gupta, Kannan Govindan

Addresses: Department of Quantitative Studies, Operations and Project Management, School of Business, Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, NH 03106, USA. ' Laboratory for Responsible Manufacturing, 334 SN, Department of MIE, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ' Department of Business and Economics, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, DK-5230, Odense, Denmark

Abstract: Many a firm today continually evaluates the performance of its supply chain in order to check whether the supply chain needs to be re-designed with respect to the customers| needs and requirements. Due to the inherent differences in a traditional supply chain and a reverse/closed-loop supply chain with respect to movement of goods as well as information, it is inappropriate to adopt the performance measures of a traditional supply chain for a reverse/closed-loop supply chain. To this end, this paper addresses the metrics that help evaluate the performance of a reverse/closed-loop supply chain. These metrics are incorporated in a mathematical model that uses quality function deployment (QFD) and linear physical programming (LPP) effectively to measure the |satisfaction level| of the supply chain with respect to each of the metrics. The approach is illustrated through a numerical example. Brief introductions to the techniques used (QFD and LPP) and a brief review of the research in the field of strategic planning of a reverse/closed-loop supply chain are also given.

Keywords: reverse supply chains; closed-loop supply chains; quality function deployment; QFD; linear physical programming; performance measurement; strategic planning; supply chain management; SCM; satisfaction levels.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPSCM.2009.026263

International Journal of Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling, 2009 Vol.1 No.1, pp.8 - 32

Published online: 31 May 2009 *

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