State of the Art in Determining the Optimal Reverse Logistics Network for your Product

Research by: Albert Wee Kwan Tan, Philip Teow Huat Kwa, & Janya Chanchaichujit

Abstract

The primary focus of this study is to explore and answer the following research question: “In what ways can organizations enhance the efficiency and responsiveness of their reverse logistics network design?” The study presents a conceptual framework that the authors have built, incorporating several essential variables to guide the process of network design. The conceptual framework for reverse logistics networks has been developed by conducting an analysis of the fundamental factors that influence network design decisions. This paradigm facilitates the decision-making process for firms when considering the centralization or decentralization of their reverse logistics operations and the outsourcing or insourcing of specific operational aspects. Moreover, the authors have discovered and highlighted relevant literature that exhibits strong alignment with our proposed framework, hence offering useful insights for decision-making in the domain of reverse logistics network design. Within our framework, two crucial dimensions are considered at each stage: the choice between internal processing vs. outsourcing and the decision to centralize or decentralize operations. With consideration of the factors noted above, this paper proposes a mixed integer linear programming model for the design of a reverse logistics network. This model aims to minimize the total cost at each stage of reverse logistics operations.

Keywords: Reverse logistics, network design, supply chain management, outsourcing

To cite this article:  Tan, A., Kwa, P., & Chanchaichujit, J. (2024). State of the art in determining the optimal reverse logistics network for your product. Green Manufacturing Open, 2(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/gmo.2023.080501

To access this article: https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/gmo.2023.080501

About the Journal

Green Manufacturing Open (also known as sustainable manufacturing) is a modern manufacturing concept that comprehensively considers environmental impact and resource efficiency. The goals of green manufacturing are to minimize the impact on the environment and the highest resource efficiency during the entire product life cycle from product design, manufacturing, packaging, transportation, utilization to end-of-life (EoL) recovery, recycling, and disposal.

The journal of GMO publishes high-quality, peer-reviewed original articles that present a full spectrum of research topics and state-of-the-art reviews in this significantly emerging research area. Papers involved all aspects of green manufacturing activities, including (but not limited) product design, process design, and planning, innovative and nontraditional manufacturing processes to minimize environmental impacts, natural resource and energy consumption, packaging, product utilization and consumption, re-manufacturing processes, additive manufacturing process for remanufacturing, hybrid manufacturing process to achieve environmentally consciousness, and the end of life product refurbishing, materials recovery, recycling and disposal processes.

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