A Generic Model for Network Design Including Remanufacturing Activities

Abstract

Green supply chain management consists of companies applying green concepts to managing their supply chains. It is a new way to enhance company competitiveness. In particular, reverse logistics aims to optimize reverse product flows to limit residual waste. One of the most critical problems in the reverse logistics field is the design of reverse logistic networks. The purpose of this work is to propose a comprehensive generic model that can help decision makers to design networks that cover remanufacturing activities. This model also aims to help devise strategies for the pricing of used and remanufactured products. More precisely a dynamic, multi-commodity, two-level capacitated facility- location problem for the green design of reverse logistic networks is presented. Therefore, both economic and ecological costs of reverse logistic activities are taken into account to help minimize the damages of the reverse supply chain on the environment. Last, in order to better reflect real cases, this model includes fundamental features of reverse logistics that have been overlooked in the literature, namely, uncertainty in product returns, time dependency of the decision variables, capacity constraints, and the possibility of treating multiple classes of products at one time.