Reverse supply chain optimisation with disassembly line balancing

Abstract

Due to responding environmental issues, conforming governmental legislations and providing economic benefits, there has been a growing interest in recycling activities through the supply chains. Reverse supply chain (RSC) optimisation problem has a great potential as an efficient tactic to achieve this goal. While disassembly, one of the main activities in RSC, enables reuse and recycling of products and prevents the overuse, disassembly line balancing problem involves determination of a line design in which used products are partially/completely disassembled to obtain available components. The aim of this study is to optimise a RSC, involving customers, collection/disassembly centres and plants, that minimises the transportation costs while balancing the disassembly lines, which minimises the total fixed costs of opened workstations, simultaneously. A non-linear mixed-integer programming model, which simultaneously determines: (i) optimal distribution between the facilities with minimum cost, (ii) the number of disassembly workstations that will be opened with minimum cost, (iii) the cycle time in each disassembly centre and (iv) optimal assignment of tasks to workstations, is developed. A numerical example is given to illustrate the applicability of the proposed model. Different scenarios have been conducted to show the effects of sensitivity analyses on the performance measures of the problem.