Reverse logistics network design for product recovery and remanufacturing

Due to environmental concerns, reverse logistics now is becoming an important strategy to increase customer satisfaction. This research develops a generic mixed integer nonlinear programming model (MINLP) for reverse logistics network design. This is a multi-echelon reverse logistics model. It maximizes total profit by handling products returned for repair, remanufacturing, recycling, reuse, or incineration/landfill. A hybrid genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed to solve the problem. The designed model is validated and tested by using a real-life example of recycling bulk waste in Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Sensitivity analyses are conducted on various parameters to illustrate the capabilities of the proposed model. Post-optimality analysis and comparison show that the proposed model performs better than current reverse logistic operations and the proposed hybrid GA demonstrates the efficiency of solving the complex reverse logistics problem.     

A two-level network for recycling sand: A case study

In the Netherlands, the recycling of construction waste and in particular of sand creates an important logistic problem. New legislation ensures that disposal is reduced to a minimal level and this incentives recycling. Such measures cause an increase on the offer of sand (a subproduct of recycling construction waste) and create the need for establishing an efficient sand network. The sand problem falls into the field of reverse logistics management since it deals with processing returned goods (sieved sand). We propose a two-level location model for the sand problem and consider its optimization using heuristic procedures. The results obtained for the sand recycling network in the Netherlands are summarized.     

A Planning Model for the Development of Waste Material Recycling Programmes

Material recycling is quickly becoming the most visible component of municipal solid waste management systems, and optimization models could play a prominent role in the long-term cost-effective planning of these systems. In this paper, we develop a mixed integer programming model for the recycling of various by-product materials within the overall waste system. This model is solvable on a microcomputer for reasonable problem dimensions, and the planning methodology is applied to a hypothetical municipality to illustrate the potential utility of the developed modelling approach.     

Modelling and optimisation of electricity,steam and district heating production for a local Swedish utility

District heating may help reduce environmental impact and energy costs, but policy instruments and waste management may influence operations. The energy system optimisation model MODEST has been used for 50 towns, regions and a nation. Investments and operation that satisfy energy demand at minimum cost are found through linear programming. This paper describes the application of MODEST to a municipal utility, which uses several fuels and cogeneration plants. The model reflects diurnal and monthly demand fluctuations.Several studies of the Linköping utility are reviewed. These indicate that the marginal heat cost is lower in summer; a new waste or wood fired cogeneration plant is more profitable than a natural-gas-fired combined cycle; material recycling of paper and hard plastics is preferable to waste incineration from an energy-efficiency viewpoint; and considering external costs enhances wood fuel use. Here, an emission limit is used to show how fossil-fuel cogeneration displaces CO₂ from coal-condensing plants.     

基于企业社会责任的逆向物流回收模式选择

随着产品生命周期缩短,产品更新换代加快,废旧产品的回收与处理已成为一个迫切的社会问题。基于企业的社会责任,本文研究逆向物流回收模式的选择问题。我们考虑生产商回收、零售商回收及第三方物流回收三种模式,在为各回收模式建立数学模型后对其进行了优化分析;最后以电子行业废旧产品的回收为例,通过算例分析,对考虑和不考虑企业社会责任的回收模式进行了比较,从而得出:当生产企业较少考虑到企业社会责任且政府奖励较低时,其会选择零售商回收模式;而当生产企业较多地考虑到企业社会责任且政府奖励较高时,其会选择自己回收的模式。这表明企业社会责任和合适的政府激励对促进生产商自己担负起废旧产品的回收工作有积极的意义。     

Effective location models for sorting recyclables in public management

The recycling of urban solid wastes is a critical point for the “closing supply chains” of many products, mainly when their value cannot be completely recovered after use. In addition to environmental aspects, the process of recycling involves technical, economic, social and political challenges for public management. For most of the urban solid waste, the management of the end-of-life depends on selective collection to start the recycling process. For this reason, an efficient selective collection has become a mainstream tool in the Brazilian National Solid Waste Policy. In this paper, we study effective models that might support the location planning of sorting centers in a medium-sized Brazilian city that has been discussing waste management policies over the past few years. The main goal of this work is to provide an optimal location planning design for recycling urban solid wastes that fall within the financial budget agreed between the municipal government and the National Bank for Economic and Social Development. Moreover, facility planning involves deciding on the best sites for locating sorting centers along the four-year period as well as finding ways to meet the demand for collecting recyclable materials, given that economic factors, consumer behavior and environmental awareness are inherently uncertain future outcomes. To deal with these issues, we propose a deterministic version of the classical capacity facility location problem, and both a two-stage recourse formulation and risk-averse models to reduce the variability of the second-stage costs. Numerical results suggest that it is possible to improve the current selective collection, as well as hedge against data uncertainty by using stochastic and risk-averse optimization models.     

A branch-and-cut algorithm for the multi-compartment vehicle routing problem with flexible compartment sizes

Multi-compartment vehicle routing problems arise in a variety of problem settings in which different product types have to be transported separated from each other. In this paper, a problem variant which occurs in the context of glass waste recycling is considered. In this problem, a set of locations exists, each of which offering a number of containers for the collection of different types of glass waste (e.g. colorless, green, brown glass). In order to pick up the contents from the containers, a fleet of homogeneous disposal vehicles is available. Individually for each disposal vehicle, the capacity can be discretely separated into a limited number of compartments to which different glass waste types are assigned. The objective of the problem is to minimize the total distance to be travelled by the disposal vehicles. For solving this problem to optimality, a branch-and-cut algorithm has been developed and implemented. Extensive numerical experiments have been conducted in order to evaluate the algorithm and to gain insights into the problem structure. The corresponding results show that the algorithm is able to solve instances with up to 50 locations to optimality and that it reduces the computing time by 87% compared to instances from the literature. Additional experiments give managerial insights into the use of different variants of compartments with flexible sizes.

     

System dynamics modelling of mixed recycling mode based on contract: a case study of online and offline recycling of E-waste in China

ABSTRACT

As the pace of global sustainable economic development accelerates, increasing attention has been brought to the reutilization of waste electronic resources (E-waste). As the leading manufacturer and consumer of electronic products, China has now become the largest producer of E-waste around the world. Considering the current state of recycling mode in China, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (Huawei) took the lead in implementing a blended operation model of manufacturer-led recycling model (offline recycling, OffR) and retailer-led recycling model (online recycling, OnR). In order for the improvement of recycling efficiency for Huawei and other telecommunication companies, this paper constructs a closed-loop network model of mixed recycling (MR) between manufacturers and retailers based on contract, where manufacturers and retailers jointly recycle E-waste for the provision of E-waste to manufacturers for remanufacturing. In this paper, the MR model is compared against the OffR model and OnR model to evaluate the recycling allocation mechanism run by both manufacturer and retailer and then a contract-based, closed-loop network model of mixed recycling between manufacturers and retailers is developed on the basis of obtaining the optimal MR model. By means of simulation analysis, the optimal recycling allocation ratio between manufacturer and retailer is determined. The results obtained from this study are expected to help manufacturers and retailers with effective negotiation and cooperation, so as to improve the efficiency of E-waste recycling while promoting sustainable development and reducing the economic losses caused by price competition to the minimum. This research contributes to not only the waste management studies but also the recycling of E-waste in China and other countries.     

Environmental integrated production and recycling management

Environmental integrated production and recycling planning is of great importance for the competitive position of production enterprises. Due to increasing disposal costs for industrial byproducts and waste as well as stronger emission standards, companies will be required to set up and control advanced, environmental friendly production technologies, so that emissions and byproducts will be reduced drastically. Nonavoidable byproducts and used products at the end of their lifetime have to be recycled by the producers. The complexity of the resulting decision problems requires adequate operations research methods. The following paper deals with the development of sophisticated operations research models for two selected planning problems: recycling of industrial byproducts and dismantling and recycling of products at the end of their lifetime. The models have been applied successfully to large industrial problems in practice in the fields of recycling of demolition waste in a German-French region and byproduct management in the steel industry. The presentations of these two applications follow a case study point of view.     

Heuristic and exact methods for the cutting sequencing problem

Cutting stock problems deal with the generation of a set of cutting patterns that minimizes waste. Sometimes it is also important to find the processing sequence of this set of patterns to minimize the maximum queue of partially cut orders. In such instances a cutting sequencing problem has to be solved. This paper presents a new mathematical model and a three-phase approach for the cutting sequencing problem. In the first phase, a greedy algorithm produces a good starting solution that is improved in the second phase by a tabu search, or a generalized local search procedure, while, in the last phase, the problem is optimally solved by an implicit enumeration procedure that uses the best solution previously found as an upper bound. Computing experience, based on 300 randomly generated problems, shows the good performance of the heuristic methods presented.     

Allocation of Marketing Effort Among <Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis> Substitutional Products in <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis> Territories<Superscript>†</Superscript>

Frequently, companies face the problem of allocating a given marketing budget in order to maximize their total returns. In this paper we examine the problem of allocating marketing effort, such as advertising, among P substitutional products, distributed in N different sales territories. Two models are discussed. In the first model it is assumed that at most one product is promoted in each sales territory. It is shown that a simple algorithm leads to at least a local optimum in a finite number of steps. In the second model, the restriction of one product per territory is eliminated. Applying a concept of effective effort, the model is transformed to an equivalent separable programming problem, solvable by a “single-pass” algorithm for various forms of response functions. Furthermore, a concept of successive modifications of the objective function is discussed.     

A multi-objective mathematical model for the industrial hazardous waste location-routing problem

Industrial hazardous waste management involves the collection, transportation, treatment, recycling and disposal of industrial hazardous materials that pose risk to their surroundings. In this paper, a new multi-objective location-routing model is developed, and implemented in the Marmara region of Turkey. The aim of the model is to help decision makers decide on locations of treatment centers utilizing different technologies, routing different types of industrial hazardous wastes to compatible treatment centers, locations of recycling centers and routing hazardous waste and waste residues to those centers, and locations of disposal centers and routing waste residues there. In the mathematical model, three criteria are considered: minimizing total cost, which includes total transportation cost of hazardous materials and waste residues and fixed cost of establishing treatment, disposal and recycling centers; minimizing total transportation risk related to the population exposure along transportation routes of hazardous materials and waste residues; and minimizing total risk for the population around treatment and disposal centers, also called site risk. A lexicographic weighted Tchebycheff formulation is developed and computed with CPLEX software to find representative efficient solutions to the problem. Data related to the Marmara region is obtained by utilizing Arcview 9.3 GIS software and Marmara region geographical database.     

Constructive Solution of Inverse Parametric Linear/Quadratic Programming Problems

Parametric convex programming has received a lot of attention, since it has many applications in chemical engineering, control engineering, signal processing, etc. Further, inverse optimality plays an important role in many contexts, e.g., image processing, motion planning. This paper introduces a constructive solution of the inverse optimality problem for the class of continuous piecewise affine functions. The main idea is based on the convex lifting concept. Accordingly, an algorithm to construct convex liftings of a given convexly liftable partition will be put forward. Following this idea, an important result will be presented in this article: Any continuous piecewise affine function defined over a polytopic partition is the solution of a parametric linear/quadratic programming problem. Regarding linear optimal control, it will be shown that any continuous piecewise affine control law can be obtained via a linear optimal control problem with the control horizon at most equal to 2 prediction steps.     

Logarithmic Pooling of Priors Linked by a Deterministic Simulation Model

Abstract

We consider Bayesian inference when priors and likelihoods are both available for inputs and outputs of a deterministic simulation model. This problem is fundamentally related to the issue of aggregating (i.e., pooling) expert opinion. We survey alternative strategies for aggregation, then describe computational approaches for implementing pooled inference for simulation models. Our approach (1) numerically transforms all priors to the same space; (2) uses log pooling to combine priors; and (3) then draws standard Bayesian inference. We use importance sampling methods, including an iterative, adaptive approach that is more flexible and has less bias in some instances than a simpler alternative. Our exploratory examples are the first steps toward extension of the approach for highly complex and even noninvertible models.     

Supply planning for industrial ecology and remanufacturing under uncertainty: a numerical study of leaded-waste recovery from television disposal

The use of waste as a raw material for manufacturing is hampered by the uncertainty associated with the availability of supply. Technological change and obsolescence further complicates the ability of decision makers to consider discarded durable products as a potential source of raw materials. This uncertainty complicates remanufacturing and industrial ecology. A problem since remanufacturing and industrial ecology need to be (and can be) profitable as well as environmentally desirable if they are to be encouraged. To address this problem the modelling of the waste flow of durable goods is considered. The disposal of televisions in the United States is used to illustrate the challenges and requirements for forecasting in an environment with supply uncertainty. This example is timely since the diposal of cathode ray tubes (CRTs) in municipal landfills is being banned and an alternate technology trajectory for televisions exists—the flat panel display and phase-out of analogue broadcasting in the US. This paper estimates the waste stream resulting from three different scenarios of CRT leaded-waste disposal patterns. The reuse of lead-containing CRT glass is found to offer potential. The elimination of this controversial waste stream, as a result of replacement by the adoption of flat panel television technology, is still decades away. The findings in this study indicate the range of the quantity of waste that will require an alternative infrastructure as it is displaced from municipal landfills. This study provides important information for both developing a collection infrastructure and processing alternatives to extract the residual value of the disposed of televisions.     

A hybrid collaborative algorithm to solve an integrated wood transportation and paper pulp production problem

This paper proposes a hybrid algorithm to tackle a real-world problem arising in the context of pulp and paper production. This situation is modelled as a production problem where one has to decide which wood will be used by each available processing unit (wood cooker) in order to minimize the variance of wood densities within each cooker for each period of the planning horizon. The proposed hybrid algorithm is built around two distinct phases. The first phase uses two interacting heuristic methods to identify a promising reduced search space, which is then thoroughly explored in the second phase. This hybrid algorithm produces high-quality solutions in reasonable computation times, especially for the largest test instances. Extensive computational experiments demonstrated the robustness and efficiency of the method.     

EPR制度下的家电以旧换新回收策略优化模型

研究生产者责任延伸制度(EPR)约束下,家电生产销售企业集中决策下实施以旧换新进行废旧产品回收的问题。在对家电消费者市场结构进行分析基础上,建立以企业利润最大化为目标的实施以旧换新回收策略的优化模型,并根据我国家电行业EPR制度的特点,构建政府与企业间竞争的Stackelberg博弈模型,研究在政府环境效益最优时的补贴和基金征收标准下,企业以旧换新回收产品最优定价决策;同时,与企业不直接参与废旧产品回收时单一定价相应结果进行比较。结果表明:在EPR约束下,政府环境效益最优时的补贴和基金征收标准,对企业实施以旧换新回收策略的产品销量、总利润和废旧产品回收量的影响取决于企业成本结构、消费者结构、消费者效用和废旧产品回收处理能力。企业决策者需根据不同情形决定是否参与以旧换新回收实践。     

Minimizing the cycle time of multiple-product processing networks with a fixed operation sequence,setups, and time-window constraints

We solve a special case of the single-robot cyclic scheduling problem with a fixed robot operation sequence and time window constraints on processing times. It generalizes the known single-part fixed-sequence problems into the one to cover a processing network with multiple part types and setup time requirements between the processing steps for different parts at the shared stations. The objective is to minimize the cycle time. We prove that this problem is equivalent to the parametric critical path problem, and propose a strongly polynomial time solution algorithm which uses a new labeling procedure to identify all feasible parameter values. The proposed algorithm is based on an extension to the known Bellman–Ford algorithm.     

政府奖励对报废汽车回收模式选择的作用机制研究——基于企业社会责任视角

随着我国报废汽车数量的增多,由其造成的交通隐患、环境污染和资源浪费已成为重要社会问题,而如何设计合理可行的回收模式成为解决问题的关键。以制造商主导为前提,提出了基于企业社会责任的报废汽车回收模型,构建了制造商回收、销售商回收和第三方回收模式下的回收流程和数学模型,通过实例对考虑和不考虑企业社会责任两种情况下的回收模型进行了分析,探讨了不同政府奖励下报废汽车回收模式的策略选择。通过研究发现:(1)不论是否考虑企业社会责任,随着政府奖励的增加,制造商最终都会选择由自己进行回收;(2)当考虑企业社会责任时,政府奖励和决策者经济责任偏好都会导致决策的改变,随着政府奖励和赋予经济责任权重的同步增加,制造商的决策由第三方企业回收模式或销售商回收模式变成了制造商回收模式,表明政府奖励和企业社会责任对报废汽车回收模式选择具有显著影响。     

On convex modified output least-squares for elliptic inverse problems: stability,regularization, applications,and numerics

Abstract

Inverse problems of identifying parameters in partial differential equations constitute an important class of problems with diverse real-world applications. These identification problems are commonly explored in an optimization framework and there are many optimization formulations having their own advantages and disadvantages. Although a non-convex output least-squares (OLS) objective is commonly used, a convex-modified output least-squares (MOLS) has shown encouraging results in recent years. In this work, we focus on various aspects of the MOLS approach. We devise a rigorous (quadratic and non-quadratic) regularization framework for the identification of smooth as well as discontinuous coefficients. This framework subsumes the total variation regularization that has attracted a great deal of attention in identifying sharply varying coefficients and also in image processing. We give new existence results for the regularized optimization problems for OLS and MOLS. Restricting to the Tikhonov (quadratic) regularization, we carry out a detailed study of various stability aspects of the inverse problem under data perturbation and give new stability estimates for general inverse problems using OLS and MOLS formulations. We give a discretization scheme for the continuous inverse problem and prove the convergence of the discrete inverse problem to the continuous one. We collect discrete formulas for OLS and MOLS and compute their gradients and Hessians. We present applications of our theoretical results. To show the feasibility of the MOLS framework, we also provide computational results for the inverse problem of identifying parameters in three different classes of partial differential equations .