Title: Designing a closed-loop supply chain with stochastic product returns: a Genetic Algorithm approach

Authors: Gengui Zhou, Hokey Min

Addresses: Department of Management Science and Engineering, College of Business Administration, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, Zhejiang, China. ' Department of Management, BAA 3008C, College of Business Administration, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA

Abstract: In the recent past, some scholars and logisticians have begun to explore the possibility of managing product returns in a more systematic manner. However, up to now there are few studies to address the problem of determining the number and location of centralised product return centres where unknown quantities of returned products from retailers or end-customers are collected for manufacturers| or distributors| repair facilities. In an effort to fill the void in such a line of research, this paper proposes a non-linear mixed-integer programming model and a Genetic Algorithm (GA) that can solve the stochastic network design problem in a closed-loop supply chain.

Keywords: closed-loop supply chains; GAs; genetic algorithms; stochastic networks; network design; supply chain management; SCM; product returns; nonlinear mixed-integer programming; product return centres.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2011.041863

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2011 Vol.9 No.4, pp.397 - 418

Published online: 06 May 2015 *

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