不确定环境下制造再制造供应链定价与协调问题研究

研究模糊不确定环境下制造/再制造供应链系统的定价与协调问题。通过考虑制造产品与再制造产品的差异性,利用模糊理论和博弈论理论等知识,在集中式和分散式决策方式下,分别给出了制造/再制造商和零售商关于制造产品和再制造产品的最优价格决策,以及分散决策方式下的系统协调策略,并且利用数值算例对所得结果进行了分析。     

竞争市场下考虑再制造产品售后服务的供应链运营策略

在同时生产新产品和再制造产品的原始制造企业(企业1)与生产具有替代性产品的企业(企业2)构成竞争关系下的供应链系统中,探讨供应链在不同售后服务策略下供应链的运营策略,分析在竞争市场下供应链定价策略和再制造产品的售后服务对定价策略及供应链中各企业利润的影响。揭示再制造产品售后服务对定价策略和供应链各企业最优利润的影响。得到如下主要研究结论:(1)当制造企业为再制造产品提供售后服务时,再制造产品销售量增加,新产品和竞争替代产品销售量降低;有趣的是新产品和再制造产品的市场零售价格同时增加,竞争替代产品的市场零售价格降低。(2)制造企业为再制造产品提供售后服务时的利润总是大于没有售后服务时的利润,且不受单位产品生产成本影响。同时当单位产品生产成本较高时,制造企业为再制造产品提供售后服务策略会带来竞争对手企业利润增加。这些结论对具有再制造产品供应链如何提供再制造产品售后服务具有一定指导作用和管理启示。     

两阶段闭环供应链的新产品和再制造产品最优定价模型

以一个制造商和一个零售商组成的两阶段闭环供应链为研究对象,通过考虑废旧产品的回收、再制造、再销售以及新产品和再制造产品竞争等因素,建立集中供应链系统和分散供应链系统的数学模型,研究新产品和再制造产品的最优定价策略.研究结果表明当新产品的制造成本和再制造产品的制造成本满足一定条件时,决策者为了实现利润最大化才进行再制造活动.最后通过算例验证了上述结论,并进一步分析了回收率和替代系数对供应链总利润及各成员利润的影响.     

考虑返回补偿策略的制造与再制造的最优决策

作为减少成本的一种有效方式,近年来,再制造获得了企业越来越多的关注.对于再制造企业,如何有效地返回产品是一个基本的问题,为此,考虑了一个返回补偿策略,即企业支付给愿意返回产品的消费者一个价格补偿.在这个策略下,回收数量是随机需求的一个比例.研究了一个两周期的库存系统,企业需要在每周期初决策新材料的采购数量以及分配给制造和再制造方式的生产数量.通过建立一个三级随机动态规划模型,给出了制造和再制造混合系统对于已实现需求的最优生产策略,同时证明了每个周期的目标函数对于库存补充数量是凸的,进而证明基本的库存策略仍然是最优的.最后从管理者的角度进行了数值分析.     

再制造闭环供应链系统担保策略研究

由于当前环境保护及资源有限的急迫性,世界各国越来越重视可持续发展和循环经济,这促使企业投入到产品的再制造中来.基于消费者对新产品和再制造产品具有不同的支付意愿,考虑了再制造产品的担保策略,在消费者效用函数中并入担保因素的影响,构建了以制造商为主导的Stackelberg博弈模型,研究了再制造产品的担保策略以及不同的责任主体提供此种服务时对市场份额和利润的影响,并给出了相关结论.研究结果表明:对再制造产品提供担保能提高此产品的接受度,增加市场份额,进而可以提高厂商的利润,推动再制造业的发展;且零售商具有接近消费者的天然优势,由零售商提供此种担保时,运行效率更高.     

考虑缺货的闭环供应链选址-库存-路径集成优化

再制造是企业实现环境友好、提升经济效益的重要策略之一;再制造的发展推动了新商业模式的出现,即产品服务系统;高效的再制造物流网络对于成功实施再制造十分重要。本文研究了基于产品服务系统下的再制造物流网络集成优化问题,即闭环供应链的选址-库存-路径的集成优化决策问题,且在库存策略中允许库存出现缺货的情况;论文基于产品服务系统模式构建了混合非线性规划模型来最小化生产、选址、配送、库存以及缺货成本,并采用了改进的禁忌搜索算法进行求解。通过与传统禁忌搜索算法的计算结果进行对比,表明本文中的算法能在可接受的时间内得到较优解。通过算例的敏感性分析得出,企业所服务的顾客如果接受再制造产品,提高回收率可以节约成本;在回收率一定时,客户在缺货情形下的制造和再制造批量比不允许缺货时要大,企业总成本比不允许缺货时要小。     

具有产能约束和价格干预的闭环供应链网络双渠道均衡

研究了闭环供应链网络双渠道均衡问题,其中制造/再制造工厂存在产能约束,通过分销/回收中心实体链和通过电子商务直销渠道,将其产品经由零售商/回收点销售给存在限制性价格上限的消费市场.借助变分不等式理论,建立了闭环供应链网络双渠道均衡模型,设计了求解均衡解的对数二次逼近的预测校正算法.从数值算例分析得到:消费市场中的商品会发生短缺,由于限制性价格上限的存在,当存在产能约束时情况会更为严重.另外,制造/再制造工厂加入直销渠道会增加制造/再制造工厂、零售商/回收点及闭环供应链的利润,但会减小分销/回收中心的利润.     

考虑提供基础质保服务的供应链再制造定价策略研究

再制造产品对新产品需求存在互补与挤兑现象,商家为再制造产品提供基础质保服务刺激其需求的同时,也会使得新产品销量受阻.以一个制造商和一个零售商组成的两级供应链为对象,分别探讨制造商提供再制造与零售商提供再制造两种模式下的定价决策问题.研究结果表明:1)当再制造产品质量水平过低时,由于出售再制造产品需要承担高额的维修成本,因此为避免降低供应链总体收益不应该引入再制造策略;2)再制造产品故障率越高,为了对抗售后维修成本,商家制定的新产品与再制造产品间的均衡售价差异反而会越小;3)当再制造产品质量水平较低时,制造商(零售商)总能在另一方采用再制造策略的情形下受益.     

马尔科夫决策过程在R/M系统库存控制中的应用

给出了有限阶段R/M(再制造/制造)系统集成库存模式,利用马尔科夫决策理论对库存容量有限、具有随机再制造零部件的R/M系统集成库存进行研究,考虑再制造零部件单位成本、新零部件可变费用和固定费用、超过库存容量的那部分再制造零部件的附加费用及有缺货赔偿的情况,给出了马尔科夫决策过程模型,得到了随机最优控制策略.     

回收率依赖回收产品质量的再制造EOQ模型

研究回收率依赖回收产品质量情况下制造/再制造混合系统的EOQ模型.该模型假设顾客的需求可通过新产品的制造和回收产品的再制造两种方式满足,且这两种产品无质量差异;需求率是确定的、连续的;总成本包括制造和再制造的固定启动成本,可销售产品和回收品的库存成本,以及缺货成本.当假设缺货成本无限大时给出不允许缺货情况下的模型.给出算例验证模型的有效性.     

Lot sizing for a single product recovery system with variable setup numbers

Inventory systems for joint remanufacturing and manufacturing have recently received considerable attention. In such systems, used products are collected from customers and are kept at the recoverable inventory warehouse for future remanufacturing. In this paper a production–remanufacturing inventory system is considered, where the demand can be satisfied by production and remanufacturing. The cost structure consists of the EOQ-type setup costs, holding costs and shortage costs. The model with no shortage case in serviceable inventory is first studied. The serviceable inventory shortage case is discussed next. Both models are considered for the case of variable setup numbers of equal sized batches for production and remanufacturing processes. For these two models sufficient conditions for the optimal type of policy, referring to the parameters of the models, are proposed.     

Heuristics with guaranteed performance bounds for a manufacturing system with product recovery

We consider a manufacturing system with product recovery. The system manufactures a new product as well as remanufactures the product from old, returned items. The items remanufactured with the returned products are as good as new and satisfy the same demand as the new item. The demand rate for the new item and the return rate for the old item are deterministic and constant. The relevant costs are the holding costs for the new item and the returned item, and the fixed setup costs for both manufacturing and remanufacturing. The objective is to determine the lot sizes and production schedule for manufacturing and remanufacturing so as to minimize the long-run average cost per unit time. We first develop a lower bound among all classes of policies for the problem. We then show that the optimal integer ratio policy for the problem obtains a solution whose cost is at most 1.5% more than the lower bound.     

回收率依赖价格的再制造EPQ模型研究

研究了考虑回收率依赖于回收品价格,并带有废弃处理的制造和再制造混合系统的(1,R)和(M,1)EPQ模型.在模型中,采用新产品的制造和回收产品的再制造两种方式来满足客户的需要,回收产品部分用于再制造,其余作为废弃处理;总平均成本包括与回收产品、可销售产品有关的库存持有成本,与制造和再制造有关的生产成本和固定成本,与回收品及制造所需原材料的采购成本以及废弃处理成本.模型给出最优生产策略及总平均成本的表达式.算例验证了所建模型的计算方法,并分析了新引人决策变量p(回收产品单价占制造新产品所需原料价格的比例对总平均成本的变化率的影响.     

Joint control of production,remanufacturing, and disposal activities in a hybrid manufacturing–remanufacturing system

To generate insights into how production of new items and remanufacturing and disposal of returned products can be effectively coordinated, we develop a model of a hybrid manufacturing–remanufacturing system. Formulating the model as a Markov decision process, we investigate the structure of the optimal policy that jointly controls production, remanufacturing, and disposal decisions. Considering the average profit maximization criterion, we show that the joint optimal policy can be characterized by three monotone switching curves. Moreover, we show that there exist serviceable (i.e., as-new) and remanufacturing (i.e., returned) inventory thresholds beyond which production cannot be optimal but disposal is always optimal. We also identify conditions under which idling and disposal actions are always optimal when the system is empty. Using numerical comparisons between models with and without remanufacturing and disposal options, we generate insights into the benefit of utilizing these options. To effectively coordinate production, remanufacturing, and disposal activities, we propose a simple, implementable, and yet effective heuristic policy. Our extensive numerical results suggest that the proposed heuristic can greatly help firms to effectively coordinate their production, remanufacturing, and disposal activities and thereby reduce their operational costs.     

The impact of two-product joint lifecycles on capacity planning of remanufacturing networks

Capacity planning in the reverse channel of closed-loop supply chains (CLSCs) involves complex issues due to the different lifecycles of product offerings in combination with the variability regarding product usage time, quality level of used products and return patterns. (Georgiadis, P., Vlachos, D., Tagaras, G., 2006. The impact of product lifecycle on capacity planning of closed-loop supply chains with remanufacturing. Production and Operations Management 15; 514–527) developed a system dynamics (SD) model to study a CLSC with remanufacturing for a single product which incorporates a dynamic capacity modeling approach. We extend this SD model for two sequential product-types under two alternative scenarios regarding the market preferences over the product-types; in the first scenario, the market is considered showing no preferences, while in the second scenario, the demand over a product-type can be satisfied only by providing units of the specific type. We study how the joint lifecycles of two product-types, entry time of the second product-type to the market and used product return patterns affect the optimal policies regarding expansion and contraction of collection and remanufacturing capacities. The results of extensive numerical investigation are tested for their statistical significance using analysis of variance (ANOVA). In the first scenario, the results show that the system performs best when the two lifecycles form a trapezoid pattern for total demand while in the second scenario, when the two lifecycles form a triangular pattern.     

Optimal policy and holding cost stability regions in a periodic review inventory system with manufacturing and remanufacturing options

In this paper a periodic review inventory model with finite horizon and remanufacturing, manufacturing options is studied. It is assumed that demand and cost parameters are constant and a sufficiently large quantity of used products is available at the beginning of the horizon. The model is studied within the class of policies with given remanufacturing and manufacturing set up and the optimal policy is obtained within this class. The policy specifies the period of switching from remanufacturing to manufacturing (switching period), the periods where remanufacturing and manufacturing activities take place and the corresponding lot sizes. An explicit formula for the cost function and some of its properties are established. Based on these, an algorithm which partitions the set of holding cost parameters into subsets, computes the optimal policy and constructs its corresponding stability regions on every such subset is proposed.     

Flexible long-term capacity planning in closed-loop supply chains with remanufacturing

We deal with long-term demand-driven capacity planning policies in the reverse channel of closed-loop supply chains (CLSCs) with remanufacturing, under high capacity acquisition cost coupled with uncertainty in actual demand, sales patterns, quality and timing of end-of-use product returns. The objective is to facilitate the decision-making when the management faces the dilemma of implementing either a strategy of early large-scale investments to benefit from economies of scale and capacity readiness, or a flexible strategy of low volume but more frequent capacity expansions. We consider a CLSC with two sequential product-types. We study the system’s response in terms of transient flows, actual/desired capacity level, capacity expansions/contractions and total supply chain profit, employing a simulation-based system dynamics optimization approach. Extensive numerical investigation covers a broad range of real-world remanufacturable products under alternative scenarios in relation to the market preference over product-types. The key findings propose flexible policies as improved alternatives to large-scale capacity expansions/contractions in terms of adaptability to the actual pattern of end-of-use product returns and involved risk in the investments’ turnover. Flexible policies are also proposed as practices to avoid overcapacity phenomena in collection and remanufacturing capacity and as robust policies to product demand. Their implementation is revealed to be even more important for the case of remanufacturing, when a high capacity acquisition unit-cost ratio (remanufacturing/collection) is coupled with strong economies of scale. Finally, results under different information sharing structures show changes in remanufacturing policies, thus justifying the importance of coordination between the decision-maker and the distributor.     

Supply planning models for a remanufacturer under just-in-time manufacturing environment with reverse logistics

We study a supply planning problem in a manufacturing system with two stages. The first stage is a remanufacturer that supplies two closely-related components to the second (manufacturing) stage, which uses each component as the basis for its respective product. The used products are recovered from the market by a third-party logistic provider through an established reverse logistics network. The remanufacturer may satisfy the manufacturer’s demand either by purchasing new components or by remanufacturing components recovered from the returned used products. The remanufacturer’s costs arise from product recovery, remanufacturing components, purchasing original components, holding inventories of recovered products and remanufactured components, production setups (at the first stage and at each component changeover), disposal of recovered products that are not remanufactured, and coordinating the supply modes. The objective is to develop optimal production plans for different production strategies. These strategies are differentiated by whether inventories of recovered products or remanufactured components are carried, and by whether the order in which retailers are served during the planning horizon may be resequenced. We devise production policies that minimize the total cost at the remanufacturer by specifying the quantity of components to be remanufactured, the quantity of new components to be purchased from suppliers, and the quantity of recovered used products that must be disposed. The effects of production capacity are also explored. A comprehensive computational study provides insights into this closed-loop supply chain for those strategies that are shown to be NP-hard.     

Design of contract parameters in a closed-loop supply chain

We study an extended joint economic lot size problem which incorporates the return flow of remanufacturable used products. The supply chain under consideration consists of a single supplier and a single buyer. The buyer orders a single product from the supplier, uses it for her own needs, and collects the remanufacturable items after use. The ordered items are shipped from the supplier to the buyer in the lot-for-lot fashion by a vehicle which also returns the collected used items from the buyer to the supplier for remanufacturing and subsequent service of the buyer’s demand in the next order cycle. For satisfying the total demand, the supplier manufactures new items or remanufactures used ones received from the buyer. For given demand, productivity, collection rate, disposal cost, setup cost, order cost, holding cost for serviceable and nonserviceable products at the supplier as well as the buyer the lot size (order size) for the supplier (buyer) has to be found which minimizes the total cost. Furthermore, we address a decentralised decision making of the parties under a two-part tariff and determine their equilibrium strategies within the Nash framework.     

On the optimal control of manufacturing and remanufacturing activities with a single shared server

We consider a single-product make-to-stock manufacturing–remanufacturing system. Returned products require remanufacturing before they can be sold. The manufacturing and remanufacturing operations are executed by the same single server, where switching from one activity to another does not involve time or cost and can be done at an arbitrary moment in time. Customer demand can be fulfilled by either newly manufactured or remanufactured products. The times for manufacturing and remanufacturing a product are exponentially distributed. Demand and used products arrive via mutually independent Poisson processes. Disposal of products is not allowed and all used products that are returned have to be accepted. Using Markov decision processes, we investigate the optimal manufacture–remanufacture policy that minimizes holding, backorder, manufacturing and remanufacturing costs per unit of time over an infinite horizon. For a subset of system parameter values we are able to completely characterize the optimal continuous-review dynamic preemptive policy. We provide an efficient algorithm based on quasi-birth–death processes to compute the optimal policy parameter values. For other sets of system parameter values, we present some structural properties and insights related to the optimal policy and the performance of some simple threshold policies.