Improving organisational performance through reverse logistics

Reverse logistics involves several activities that, based on decisions on how to implement and use them, seriously affect and impact the performance of an organisation. This paper analyses how different activities of reverse logistics could affect costs, and thus the performance of the organisation. The study is based on a survey of companies of the Spanish market and applies a structural model. The analysis provides evidence that: (1) based on the type of an activity, reverse logistics has different cost; therefore, it is important to select the most appropriate combination and implementation of reverse logistics activities. (2) Reverse logistics activities affect reverse logistics cost, and thus it decisively determines organisational performance. A number of implications and contributions stems from the discussion and conclusions of the study.     

Design and planning of supply chains with integration of reverse logistics activities under demand uncertainty

In this paper, a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulation is developed for the design and planning of supply chains with reverse flows while considering simultaneously production, distribution and reverse logistics activities. It is also considered products’ demand uncertainty using a scenario tree approach. As main goal the model defines the maximization of the expected net present value and the results provide details on sizing and location of plants, warehouses and retailers, definition of processes to install, establishment of forward and reverse flows and inventory levels to attain. The model is applied to a representative European supply chain case study and its applicability is demonstrated.     

Modeling reverse logistics process in the agro-industrial sector: The case of the palm oil supply chain

As today’s consumers are more and more concerned with the environmental impacts of products and services they buy, enterprises have been more and more concerned with “green operations”. One of the key aspects of green logistics management is reverse logistics. This paper shows how the potential of managing reverse logistics flows can be implemented in the agro-industrial sector. As an example, the palm oil supply chain is considered. This study is carried out under the focus of the “closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) framework” in which forward and backward product flows are considered simultaneously. A mathematical model is proposed in order to represent the dynamic interaction between flows. The objective function considers energy, cost and economic profits. Different implementation scenarios of recovery processes are proposed and interactions between direct and reverse flows in the chain are evaluated. Results are analyzed using proper statistical tools, showing that the simultaneous analysis of direct and reverse flows positively impact the net economic profits in this complex supply chain of the agro-industrial sector.     

Alliance or no alliance—Bargaining power in competing reverse supply chains

This work investigates how bargaining power affects negotiations between manufacturers and reverse logistics providers in reverse supply chains under government intervention using a novel three-stage reverse supply chain model for two scenarios, a reverse logistics provider alliance and no reverse logistics provider alliance. Utilizing the asymmetric Nash bargaining game, this work seeks equilibrium negotiation solutions. Analytical results indicate that the reverse logistics provider alliance increases the bargaining power of reverse logistics providers when negotiating with a manufacturer for a profitable recycled-component supply contract; however, manufacturer profits are often reduced. Particularly in the case of an recycled-component vender-dominated market, a reverse logistics alliance with extreme bargaining power may cause a counter-profit effect that results in the decreases of profits for all players involved, including buyers (i.e., manufacturers) and allied recycled-component venders (i.e., reverse logistics providers). Additional managerial insights are provided for discussion.     

逆向物流企业绩效决策与判定——基于主因子TOPSIS和DEA超效率模型的分析

逆向物流企业绩效不但关系到供需双方企业在经济全球化和资源短缺状态下的市场竞争能力,而且也关系到双方企业环境社会责任的管理水平。TOPSIS分析法作为一种离散的多目标决策方法,已经在许多领域取得了成功的应用,本文采用主成分分析和TOPSIS(逼近理想解法)相结合的组合评价法,建立了逆向物流企业绩效评价与决策的主因子TOPSIS模型,在此基础上运用DEA超效率模型,对样本逆向物流企业的经营效率进行分析,并对分析结果进行相对效率判定。研究结果表明,样本逆向物流企业的经营效率总体上较高,但各逆向物流企业存在不同的效率问题,也存在不同的改进方向。     

制造商主导下的CLSC物流策略和供应链稳定性

针对制造商主导的闭环供应链系统,考虑物流策略对系统的影响,运用博弈论理论,分析了物流外包和物流自营时制造商和零售商的定价策略、物流策略以及供应链稳定性.分析发现,无论是物流自营还是物流外包,随着补贴的增大,批发价格的单位变动率和单位再制造节约成本的单位变动率相等,但是方向相反.关于物流策略,无论补贴高低,只要fg1或者fg~21,则制造商和零售商在物流策略选择上始终一致,供应链具有长期稳定性.但若fg1fg~2,则制造商和零售商在物流选择上产生分歧,供应链具有不稳定性.     

Routing strategies for integrating forward distribution and reverse collection

Due to the significant growth in the demand for logistics services and the ongoing trend towards the outsourcing of logistics activities, logistics service providers have concurrently gained a significant profit-making opportunity and faced the unprecedented challenge of surviving in the midst of increasingly fierce market competition. This research thus aims to propose routing strategies that optimally integrate forward distribution and reverse collection to help logistics service providers reduce their operating costs when providing transportation services, and thus improve their market competitive power. The integrated routing problem is formulated as the mixed pickup-delivery asymmetric traveling salesman path problem. The problem is NP-hard and new in the literature. Therefore, the objectives of this research are to first model the problem and then develop an efficient and effective heuristic solution algorithm to the problem.     

Multistage reverse logistics of assembly systems in extended MRP Theory consisting of all material flows

In this paper we will address the issue of environmental problems in connection with extended MRP Theory. It is based on Grubbstr?m??s well developed MRP Theory (Grubbstr?m in Z für BetrWirthsch 77(3):297?C324, 2007). A major advantage of this theory is that timing and its impact on net present value can be easily calculated even for extended multilevel, multistage production-inventory systems and also for perturbed production systems consisting of many production cells. Theory has recently been extended by including reverse logistics of final and used products (Grubbstr?m et?al. in A compact representation of distribution and reverse logistics in the value chain. Faculty of Economics, Ljubljana, 2007). At each activity cell a certain percentage of scrapes is produced and sent for recycling after quality control. Here we present an input?Coutput model which includes all possible flows into a recycling sub-process with several stages of recycling. This model is presented in a generalized form of input and output matrices which has not been developed before. The model will be presented in two different ways which differ in the level of detailed information they contain. Contribution of recycling to the net present value of all activities in a supply chain is expressed and can be compared to environmental damage that could occur if reverse processes are not introduced. Using this approach, the losses and gains in both the economy and the environment could be evaluated more accurately considering all individual flows in the system. No other approaches besides input?Coutput analysis and Laplace transforms have been found so successful in compound supply systems.     

An analytic network process approach to the selection of logistics service providers for air cargo

Nowadays, enterprises typically outsource their logistics needs to logisticsagents, who have become vital partners in managing supply chains. The logisticsneeds in a supply chain consist of many different interrelated services, eachwith its own set of requirements and constraints. A logistics agent mightspecialize in the provision of a single logistics service or might provide arange of services. The selection of logistics agent(s) cannot be separated intoa series of stand-alone selections as the decisions are interrelated. Decisionmakers must assess the merits of individual activity-agent combinations, as wellas their interrelationships along the entire supply chain. Such an evaluation isnon-trivial, because both tangible and intangible elements are involved. In thisresearch, we model the selection problem using analytic network process, amultiattribute decision-making methodology suitable for assessing interdependentelements, both tangible and intangible. We examine the significance ofintegration and consolidation of shipments, the trade-offs between costs,benefits and risks within activities of the logistics process, and the differingroles of traditional freight forwarders and integrators.     

回载可分的闭环供应链配送中的多车辆运输策略

本文从车辆路径的角度研究了具有一个配送中心、多台车辆结合前向物流配送和逆向物流回载的闭环供应链运输策略,考虑回收产品的不同形态和可分批运输的特点,引入库存限制和成本惩罚,建立并分析了问题的数学模型．通过引入参数2σ原则构造了先分组后组内运用基于TSP的插入算法进行优化调整的启发式求解方法．算例分析表明该策略是合理有效的．     

A dynamic pricing approach for returned products in integrated forward/reverse logistics network design

During the last decade, the stringent pressures from environmental and social requirements have spurred an interest in designing a reverse logistics network. In this paper, we address the problem of designing and planning a multi-echelon, multi-period, multi-commodity and capacitated integrated forward/reverse logistics network. Returned products are categorized with respect to their quality levels, and a different acquisition price is offered for each return type. Furthermore, the reservation incentive of customers, the expected price of customers for one unit of used product described by uniform distribution, is applied to model the customers’ return willingness. Due to the fact that the remaining worthwhile value in the used products is the corporation’s key motivation for buying them from customers, a dynamic pricing approach is developed to determine the acquisition price for these products and based on it determine the percentage of returned products collected from customer zones. The used products’ acquisition prices at each time period are determined based on the customers’ return willingness by each collection center.     

Modeling reverse logistic tasks within closed-loop supply chains: An example from the automotive industry

In this contribution, the peculiarities of establishing a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) are presented, based on an example considering the end-of-life vehicle (ELV) treatment in Germany. Different design options for a CLSC are put up, concentrating on how reverse material flows can be handled with regard to reintegrate them into their genuine supply chains. Reverse logistics aspects are modeled with vehicle routing planning. Introducing a problem-tailored algorithm, results of several CLSC scenarios are discussed which are based on real case data, depicting measures from German ELV stakeholders.     

工件的运输和继列分批加工协作排序问题

近年来,工件的运输和加工协作排序问题在物流和供应链管理领域得到广泛关注. 讨论了先用 $\ m$ 台车辆将工件从等待区域运输到继列分批处理机处, 再进行分批加工的协作排序问题, 加工一批工件需要支付一定的费用, 目标为最小化工件的总完工时间与批的加工费用之和. 在工件的加工时间都相等的情况下, 如果工件运输方案确定, 给出了多项式时间的动态规划算法; 如果工件运输方案不确定, 证明了该问题是{\, NP}-难的, 给出了车辆返回时间 $\ t=0$ 时, 最差性能比等于 $\ 2-\frac{1}{m}$ 的近似算法.     

Logistics scheduling with batching and transportation

This paper studies a general two-stage scheduling problem, in which jobs of different importance are processed by one first-stage processor and then, in the second stage, the completed jobs need to be batch delivered to various pre-specified destinations in one of a number of available transportation modes. Our objective is to minimize the sum of weighted job delivery time and total transportation cost. Since this problem involves not only the traditional performance measurement, such as weighted completion time, but also transportation arrangement and cost, key factors in logistics management, we thus call this problem logistics scheduling with batching and transportation (LSBT) problem.     

A stochastic bi-objective location model for strategic reverse logistics

In this paper we propose a comprehensive model for reverse logistics planning where many real-world features are considered such as the existence of several facility echelons, multiple commodities, choice of technology and stochasticity associated with transportation costs and waste generation. Moreover, we adopt a bi-objective model for the problem. First, the cost for building and operating the network is to be minimized. Second, the obnoxious effect caused by the reverse network facilities is also to be minimized. A two-stage stochastic bi-objective mixed-integer programming formulation is proposed, in which the strategic decisions are considered in the first stage and the tactical/operational decisions in the second one. A set of different scenarios is considered, and the extensive form of the deterministic equivalent problem is presented. This model is tested with a case study based on some data from the Spanish province of Cordoba. Nondominated solutions are obtained by combining the two different objectives and by using a general solver.     

随机需求下物流服务供应链订购策略研究

针对由单个物流服务提供商和集成商组成的物流服务供应链,基于集中化模式、纳什博弈模式和Stackelberg博弈模式三种典型模式,考虑市场需求随机且受服务质量缺陷承诺水平的影响,探讨物流服务供应链的订购与质量缺陷承诺策略问题。通过分析发现:物流服务质量缺陷承诺水平随着市场需求弹性系数的增加而递减,但其受物流服务集成商观测水平的影响却因合作模式不同而变化不一致;集中化模式下的物流服务订购量随着物流服务集成商观测水平或市场需求弹性系数的增大而递减,但在其他两种合作模式下物流服务订购量随着物流服务集成商观测水平或市场需求弹性系数的增加而增加;在三种模式下,物流服务供应链的整体利润随着市场需求弹性系数的增加而递减,但其受物流服务集成商观测水平的影响却因合作模式不同而变化不一致。     

汽车企业集团的准时化集中生产配送系统研究

汽车企业集团的准时化集中生产配送是供应链物流一体化的重要环节。实现汽车企业集团的准时化集中生产配送,要明确其目标,做好供应商关系、配送物流的统一运作、基础数据、信息网络、配送中心仓库作业设备的现代化和领导支持六个方面的基础工作;针对我国汽车企业集团的实际,构建准时化集中配送系统的框架及流程;在准时化集中配送系统运作上探讨了包括配送资源的整合、配送中心库区的划分、配送中心库位管理、配送中心库存管理、不同物料配送流程(、6)配送中心信息系统、物料索取系统等七个方面问题。     

Distributed supply chain management using ant colony optimization

Successful supply chain management requires a cooperative integration between all the partners in the network. At the operational level, the partners individual behavior should be optimal and therefore their activities have to be planned using sophisticated optimization tools. However, these tools should take into account the planning of the remaining partners, through the exchange of information, in order to allow some kind of cooperation between the elements of the chain. This paper introduces a new supply chain management technique, based on modeling a generic supply chain with suppliers, logistics and distributers, as a distributed optimization problem. The different operational activities are solved by the optimization meta-heuristic called ant colony optimization, which allows the exchange of information between different optimization problems by means of a pheromone matrix. The simulation results show that the new methodology is more efficient than a simple decentralized methodology for different instances of a supply chain.     

二级物流服务供应链的契约协调机制研究

研究一个物流服务集成商和一个物流服务提供商所组成的二级物流服务供应链的系统协调问题。分别建立了集中控制模型、批发价格契约下的Stackelberg主从协调模型、收益共享契约下的协调模型,得到不同协调方法下的最优解所满足的条件。通过模型间的对比,证明了收益共享契约可使得该物流服务供应链达到整体最优的状态,相对于批发价格契约,实现了Pareto改进。最后,用数值试验的方式进一步验证了收益共享契约在协调物流服务供应链运作的有效性。     

链与链竞争下闭环供应链中制造商纵向整合策略选择

基于链与链竞争情形下,探讨了闭环供应链中制造商纵向整合策略选择。以制造商单位生产成本为基准,发现制造商不仅有动机整合正向物流或逆向物流,而且整合正向物流总是有利于增加其闭环供应链利润。若存在规模不经济,虽然制造商同样有动机整合正向物流或逆向物流,但是整合正向物流时闭环供应链利润是否高于其整合逆向物流取决于规模不经济系数。规模不经济系数较小时,制造商整合正向物流时闭环供应链利润高于其整合逆向物流;反之,制造商整合正向物流时闭环供应链利润低于其整合逆向物流。