Title: The impact of freight discount on the design of a product recovery network

Authors: V.S. Unnikrishnan, G. Srinivasan

Addresses: Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600036, India. ' Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600036, India

Abstract: In this paper, we address the impact of freight discount on the design of the network considering product recovery. We consider two types of discounting methods namely: all unit discount and incremental unit discount. The freight discount is assumed to be applicable to the stage where products are transported in large quantities. We propose mathematical models incorporating freight discounts for a product recovery network that integrates both forward and reverse flow of products. The impact of various parameters, such as production capacity, warehouse/collection centre capacity, product returns, product recovery and discount rates, on network structure and quantities of product transported between facilities are discussed.

Keywords: freight discounts; transportation; product recovery networks; third party logistics; 3PL; network design; mathematical modelling; production capacity; warehouse capacity; collection centre capacity; product returns; discount rates.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPSCM.2010.034467

International Journal of Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling, 2010 Vol.2 No.1, pp.1 - 24

Published online: 05 Aug 2010 *

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