Title: Extending total life-cycle thinking to sustainable supply chain design

Authors: Fazleena Badurdeen, Deepak Iyengar, Thomas J. Goldsby, Haritha Metta, Sonal Gupta, I.S. Jawahir

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, UK Center for Manufacturing, College of Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA. ' School of Management, Gatton College of Business and Economics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA. ' School of Management, Gatton College of Business and Economics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA. ' UK Center for Manufacturing, College of Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, UK Center for Manufacturing, College of Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA

Abstract: Conventional supply chain management (SCM) practices have focused only on three life-cycle stages: pre-manufacturing, manufacturing and use. The fourth stage, post-use, probably the most important from a sustainability perspective, is often addressed on a piece-meal basis, only when such practices deliver economic benefits. This paper introduces a total life-cycle-based approach to sustainable SCM (SSCM) that extends beyond the 3R|s of reduce, reuse and recycle to 6R|s that includes recover, redesign and remanufacture. A new definition for SSCM that adopts the total life-cycle approach and triple bottom-line (TBL) is presented. Two existing supply chain frameworks: supply chain operations reference (SCOR) model and the global supply chain forum (GSCF) framework, are evaluated in the context of SSCM to improve economic growth while ensuring environmental protection and societal well-being. The review finds that neither framework explicitly captures the non-economic aspects of SSCM, but the broader view of the GSCF framework offers much promise.

Keywords: sustainability; SCM; supply chain management; environmental issues; social responsibility; total life cycle; sustainable supply chains; supply chain design; SCOR model; GSCF; reuse; recycling; product recovery; product redesign; remanufacturing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPLM.2009.031666

International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management, 2009 Vol.4 No.1/2/3, pp.49 - 67

Published online: 17 Feb 2010 *

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