Forward Supply Chain Research Articles

Optimal recycling model selection in a closed-loop supply chain for electric vehicle batteries under carbon cap-trade and reward-penalty policies using the Stackelberg game

In recent years, a large number of electric vehicle (EV) batteries have retired owing to the significant growth of EVs. Developing an efficient closed-loop recycling system and effective management of retired EV batteries have become crucial. Motivated by this challenge, a closed-loop supply chain for the EV battery is formulated with four mixed-channel recycling models under the carbon cap-trade and reward-penalty mechanism. In the forward supply chain, the retailer purchases EV batteries from the manufacturer and then sells the batteries to the customers. In the reverse supply chain, the collection of retired EV batteries is carried out by either the retailer, third-party recycler, echelon firm, or a combination of these members. These collected EV batteries are classified into echelon utilizable or non-echelon utilizable batteries. The echelon-utilizable batteries are modified into echelon products, while the non-echelon batteries are recycled for extraction of raw materials to manufacture new EV batteries. The findings are derived by using actual market data and Stackelberg game theory. The influence of carbon trading prices, reward penalty intensity, costs associated with the firms, and competition coefficients are studied to provide a detailed and comprehensive analysis. A comparison of optimal profits pertaining to different models is also conducted. The results indicate that (i) different models of recycling EV batteries do not influence the optimal decisions in the forward supply chain; (ii) it is beneficial for the members to participate in the reverse chain; (iii) manufacturer’s profit increases when the carbon quota rises and decreases when the price of carbon trading increases; (iv) the involvement of echelon firms in the recycling sector has a positive effect on reducing the recycling load and increasing the profitability of the manufacturer. Managerial insights and concluding remarks are provided to guide manufacturers and recyclers in selecting the most suitable recycling model based on their specific requirements.

Colored Petri Nets for Modeling and Simulation of a Green Supply Chain System

Green supply chain is an emerging approach in supply chain management to reduce environmental impact of the process concerning the flow of goods and materials. As a discrete-event system, supply chain can be modeled using Petri Nets. Colored Petri Nets (CPNs) extend the classical Petri net formalism with data, time and hierarchy. These extensions makes it possible to deal with the green aspects of the supply chain.This paper deals with the Colored Petri Net approach to model and simulate a green supply chain system. The forward supply chain network starts from the raw material suppliers, to the manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and to the final customers. The reverse supply chain network is made of collecting points, recycling plants, disassembly plants, and secondary material market. A government environment agency plays the role of regulation of the recycling process. A colored Petri net model of the green supply chain is developed and simulated with CPN Tools, a dedicated software for CPN models. The simulation results as well as the state-space analysis results validate the correctness of the model.

Impact of prices and collection rivalry in a sustainable closed-loop dual-channel supply chain under different power configurations

Market competitiveness and waste pollution are the two biggest problems facing the modern world. The first one may be handled with appropriate production and marketing tactics, while the last one can be reclaimed by recycling any unused products and employing disposable items that are environmentally friendly. This study employs both integrated and decentralised frameworks to evaluate forward and reverse supply chain rivalry in a closed-loop dual-channel supply chain for sustainable products. Competition on buy-back prices is also studied beyond price competition in forward supply chain. Two collectors collect used goods under buyback competition, then screen them, and ship them back to the manufacturer. When they generate their goods using both recycled and new raw materials, manufacturers impose the proper environmental requirements. The manufacturer and retailer, respectively, use online and conventional distribution channels to market the new sustainable products. The primary goal of the article is to investigate pricing, green innovation level, and buy-back price strategies for players' optimal gains under various scenarios. The article reveals that if the acceptance rate surpasses certain thresholds following the screening of the acquired usable items, then all participants benefit. Manufacturer-collector partnerships reduce environmental pollution more effectively than retailer-collector alliances, however, collectors' profits may suffer.

Developing a sustainable forward supply chain configuration for construction industry under uncertainty condition: a case study

Developing a sustainable forward supply chain configuration for construction industry under uncertainty condition: a case study

Designing a sustainable disruption-oriented supply chain under joint pricing and resiliency considerations: A case study

Supply chains must adopt an appropriate mechanism to deal with interrelated risks. Sustainable development's economic, environmental and social aspects are critical concerns of supply chains. This study presents a three-objective model to design a forward supply chain network considering interrelated operational and disruptive risks. Several mitigative and preventive resilience strategies are implemented to cope with mentioned risks. Also, the optimal prices for products and parts are determined via a joint pricing strategy to enhance supply chain's profitability in disruption incidence. A stochastic robust optimization method is employed to deal with parameters’ uncertainty. The proposed model is applied to an industry of manufacturing chemical processing equipment to validate the formulation and derive practical insights. Results revealed that simultaneously managing disruption risks and uncertainties can improve sustainability goals and reduce the costs associated with risk exposure and protection in the under-study supply chain.

Warehousing and distribution network design from a third-party logistics (3PL) company perspective

This paper deals with the problem of optimising the network of a Third-Party Logistics (3PL) company, placing emphasis on the distinct characteristics of the 3PL environment. The goal is to minimise the warehousing and distribution costs for both forward and reverse product flows. A new Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP) model is proposed to address this interesting problem. The related decisions include: selection of (a) warehouse(s) and the related product inventory quantities, (b) product unit loads transported, (c) truck combinations employed to perform the corresponding forward and reverse trips. The model was applied in a case study of a 3PL company to optimise part of its forward supply chain that comprises three warehouses, 23 suppliers and 53 customers. The results obtained were very encouraging, since overall warehousing and distribution costs were lowered by 10.8%. Sensitivity analysis indicated that additional savings may result from optimising warehousing capacities. The main contributions of this work are the inclusiveness of key aspects of the 3PL environment in the proposed model, as well as placing emphasis on warehousing costs and on management of truck capacities. A secondary contribution is the validation of the model’s value through a comprehensive case study.

Investigating postponement and speculation approaches to the end-of-life textile supply chain

An upcoming directive requires the recycling of end-of-life (EoL) textiles. In this paper we show how this recycling could be arranged in such a way that the value of the recycled material exceeds the costs of recycling. We approach this via an embedded case study by examining the end-of-life (EoL) textile recycling supply chain in Finland. The study builds a cost model based on empirical and secondary data to estimate and compare the costs of different alternatives for the EoL textile supply chain. Different alternatives are designed by using postponement-speculation concepts. The four identified EoL textile supply chain alternatives are: postponed centralized sorting with manual, semi-automated or automated sorting, and speculative local sorting. The results suggest that postponed centralized sorting is the most efficient, as it enables investments in sorting automation, but it requires local pre-sorting to avoid contamination. At least in the EoL textile supply chain, the logic of using postponement-speculation strategies is the inverse of that in forward supply chains. Therefore, when in forward supply chains look possibilities for postponement, speculation strategies are relevant in EoL supply chains. Additionally, the proposed recycling system concentrates on material recovery as currently majority of EoL textile end up as disposal or they are exported for developing countries for reuse even if the items are no longer reusable.

Coordination of closed loop supply chains through buyback contract

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the coordination issues in the context of a CLSC system comprising a manufacturer and a retailer. We develop mathematical models under a buyback contract in the forward supply chain (FSC) with and without Stackelberg gaming. Compared to the case with no contracts, the numerical analysis carried out shows that the proposed models consistently provide better total SC profit, enhance the manufacturer’s profit and, in many cases, improve both players’ profits. For the model without gaming, we derive values for the buyback price that coordinate the SC and further derive ranges for the parameters where both partners are better off profitwise as compared to the no-contract case under the Stackelberg game scenario. The numerical analysis indicates that the non-gaming model always outperforms the gaming one in terms of total SC expected profit and suggests that for higher demand uncertainties, the SC members are better off profitwise at lower values of the buyback price.

Advancing the marketing‐operations interface in omnichannel retail

Advancing the marketing‐operations interface in omnichannel retail

Optimizing the Interaction Between Two Closed-Loop Supply Chains Based on Inverse Logistics Using the Game Theory Method

Abstract Over the past few years, attention to environmental problems, legal necessities, and economic advantages emerging from reproduction activities has attracted attention to reverse logistics activities in the form of a closed-loop supply chain, whether in industry or scientific research. The current study aims to model competitiveness and comparison between two closed-loop three-level supply chains, each of which includes a manufacturer, a retailer, and a third party to collect the products used by the customer, taking into account the concepts of game theory and the existence of aggregates. Moreover, a separate supplier for each chain is considered. In the forward supply chain, the manufacturer produces new products using new components or re-used products that have been collected from the consumer, then sells these products mainly to the retailer, and the retailer sells them. In the reverse chain, the collector provides the used products to the manufacturer after collection. The study utilized the definitions and concepts of game theory to model this closed loop chain as a Stackelberg game to obtain the optimal value of wholesale and retail price and the optimal value of the product return coefficient for the collector. Finally, the models based on some numerical examples are solved. Given the results, the remanufacturing costs have a significant role in making more profits for all members in such chains, and competitive chains should attempt to remanufacture the products at lower costs.

The Recycling Strategy of Closed-Loop Supply Chain Considering CSR under the Government’s Reward–Penalty Policy

A closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) is the process of adding a reverse supply chain to the traditional forward supply chain. It has a positive effect on reducing environmental pollution, and therefore many governments have introduced relevant policies to encourage enterprises to develop CLSCs. Among them, the reward–penalty policy (RPP) for the recovery rate of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is considered better. At the corporate level, the development of CLSCs can enhance the social responsibility awareness of the enterprise and effectively enhance the corporate image. Therefore, in order to study the decision making and recycling channel selection of CLSCs that consider corporate social responsibility (CSR) under the government’s RPP, this paper constructs a two-stage CLSC, including a manufacturer, a retailer, a third-party recycler, and the government. By adopting the Stackelberg game method, we determine the optimal results of the three models and draw a series of conclusions: (1) when the manufacturer is responsible for recycling WEEE, the profit is the largest, and it shows an increasing trend as the government’s reward–penalty coefficient increases; (2) the manufacturer recycling model enables the manufacturer to obtain the maximum CSR investment level, followed by the third-party recycler recycling model, and the smallest is the retailer recycling model; and (3) the government tends to build third-party recycling agencies, which is conducive to improving the level of contribution to GDP. The conclusion of this paper has certain management inspirations for the decision making of the enterprise and the formulation of government policies.

Who benefits? Global supply chains and the regional comprehensive economic partnership

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) promises to expand trade substantially for businesses in the agreement’s 15 members countries, but who will be more likely to capture the gains from trade liberalization? Drawing on insights from the emerging research program on the politics of global production networks and value chains, this study unpacks the differential benefits of free trade agreements as a function of a firm’s degree of supply chain linkages with partner countries, thus moving beyond traditional theories of trade that draw the distinction primarily between import-competing and export-oriented firms. Leveraging an original survey of more than 500 firms in China, the empirical analyses show that the more backward and forward supply chain linkages with RCEP countries a firm has, the greater its likelihood of anticipating positive impact from the RCEP, even among exporters. These findings enrich our understanding of the political economy of preferential trade liberalization and global supply chains and offer policy suggestions for member countries hoping to maximize benefits for their businesses from the largest trade agreement in the world today.

Research on Decision-Making of Hybrid Dominant Closed-Loop Supply Chain considering Different Logistics Modes.

Based on the mode of manufacturers dominating in the forward supply chain and retailers dominating in the backward supply chain, a hybrid leading closed-loop supply chain structure with different two-way dominance is constructed to study the advantages and disadvantages of supply chain decision-making under logistics self-supporting and logistics outsourcing modes. Stackelberg game theory is used to solve the equilibrium solution and optimal profit of the forward and backward supply chains under different logistics modes. On this basis, the profits of manufacturers and retailers in the forward and backward closed-loop supply chains are compared, and finally, the conclusion is verified by numerical examples. The influence of different logistics modes on pricing decisions of manufacturers and retailers is studied based on the dual-agent hybrid dominant supply chain model, and then, the logistics mode selection of manufacturers and retailers under different conditions of forward dominant body and backward dominant body.

Decision strategies for the WEEE reverse supply chain under the “Internet + recycling” model

Online recycling has been recognized as an efficient method to increase the recovery amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). However, due to lack of supply and demand coordination, the operational performance of the “Internet + recycling” model in WEEE is not ideal. Thus, the question of how to effectively balance the relationship among consumers, recyclers, and the government is of great importance for the establishment of the “Internet + recycling” model. This paper builds a dual-recycling channel reverse supply chain (RSC) decision model using the Stackelberg game model, and discusses the impact of consumer perception, efforts of online recycler, and government regulations on collection price, quantity, and profit. The findings show that increasing the consumer preference for the online recycling channel can enhance the WEEE recovery scale and the profit of the RSC, and the online recycler, through its efforts, can rectify the disadvantage of consumer preference for the online channel. Government subsidy regulation can promote the enthusiasm of consumers and enterprises for recycling. Moreover, reward-penalty regulation will disrupt the stability of forward supply chain, while the RSC is more coordinated. These findings provide valuable reference to increase the WEEE collection quantity and to promote the development of the “Internet + recycling” model.

CLASSIFICATION OF QUANTITATIVE MODEL SCENARIOS IN A CLOSED-LOOP SUPPLY CHAIN USING UNDERLYING FACTORS AND VARIABLES: A RESEARCH REVIEW

In a closed-loop supply chain area, the concept of sustainability is one of the primary factors that motivates companies to survive in a dynamic market. The purpose of this paper is to present a literature review of quantitative models in the remanufacturing process, especially mathematical models such as pricing decisions and cost models, reviewed from various scientific journals. Challenges to meet market demands, to boost efficient operational costs, and to increase profits have made researchers interested in deeply exploring this issue. Studies in the reverse supply chain area ensure that the supply process runs effectively and efficiently, meeting a level that is as good as when implementing the forward supply chain. Coordination and collaboration among companies, core acquisition strategy, model character behavior, and reverse channel structure are some characteristics of the quantitative models within the area of a closed-loop supply chain. Mapping was arranged to identify the involvement of research variables (core acquisition cost and remanufactured product price) and factors that were considered in the mathematical model of core acquisition (quantity and quality). Furthermore, the related literature on the issue was analyzed based on the involvement of the considered variables and factors. Finally, future research opportunities are presented as the result of the conducted literature review in this study.

Quantifying the Bullwhip Effect in a Reverse Supply Chain: The Impact of Different Forecasting Methods

The reason for this study is that the bullwhip effect can pose very serious consequences for enterprises, such as increased production costs, additional manufacturing costs, excessive inventory levels, excess storage costs, large capital overstocking, and excessive transportation costs. Thus, the problem for this study is that quantifying the bullwhip effect in a reverse supply chain and comparing the impact of different forecasting methods on it. The objective of this paper is the bullwhip effect (BE) in a reverse supply chain (RSC). In particular, this study proposes a quantitative expression of the BE in a RSC, that is, B E R = V a r q t / V a r r t , and analyzes the impact of different forecasting methods (e.g., the moving average technique (MA), the exponential smoothing technique (ES), and the minimum mean square error forecasting technique (MMSE)) on the bullwhip effect. We evaluate the conditions under which the collector should select different forecasting methods based on the BE. We use simulation date and get some conclusions that, in some cases when using the MMSE method, the BE does not exist in a RSC. This finding is significantly different from the results on the BE in a forward supply chain. Moreover, the MMSE method can reduce the lead-time demand forecast error to the greatest possible extent, which allows the BE to reach the lowest level.

Tunneling the barriers of blockchain technology in remanufacturing for achieving sustainable development goals: A circular manufacturing perspective

AbstractAs a concern with manufacturing industries, circular economy (CE) practices—often labeled “circular manufacturing (CM)”—are industrial tasks through which several circular economy principles have been integrated. Among these circular manufacturing strategies, “3R” (recycle, refurbish/remanufacture, and reuse/redistribute) is the key strategy that assists the manufacturing industry with closing the loop for sustainability. An effective inclusion and management of 3R lead a firm to a greater likelihood of successfully integrating CE and CM. In recent years, remanufacturing has gained greater prominence, especially with the emergence of technology, including cyber‐physical systems. These technologies assist the remanufacturing firm with efficient take‐back systems through tracking. However, data transferred through these technologies among value chain partners in remanufacturing are not reliable. Due to the lack of trust and transparency, value chain partners are hesitant to participate in remanufacturing supply chains. To address the limitation of technologies in remanufacturing, blockchain has been introduced to secure the data. Despite the advantages of blockchain technology, practitioners face difficulties in integrating these blockchain technologies into the remanufacturing context. Several earlier studies addressed the challenges of implementing blockchain, but no earlier studies have specifically examined remanufacturing industries, which are entirely different from forward supply chain industries. Concerning the fact, this study identifies the barriers that exist with the implementation of blockchain technology in the application of the remanufacturing sector. A framework has been proposed and validated in a Danish automotive parts remanufacturing company. Multi‐criteria decision‐making method has been used to identify the effective and most influential barriers among common barriers. Results reveal that “scaling of technology” (B6) is the key barrier of BCT implementation in remanufacturing context. This study concludes with useful discussions based on the results along with the recommendations to eradicate those influential barriers and their respective impacts on SDGs (SDG4, SDG8, SDG9, and SDG17). Finally, this study sheds light on future enhancements on the integration of blockchain technology in remanufacturing to reap several benefits of circular manufacturing.

Designing a Medical Supply Chain Network Considering the Risk of Supply and Flexible Production in Two-Stage Uncertain Conditions

In the green supply chain approach, all the links that are put together to provide a product or service are considered, and strategic and operational decisions are made to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire chain. At the same time, the environmental effects should be minimized. In this research, a nonlinear mixed-integer multiobjective model is developed to design a green closed-loop supply chain for medical products. In this supply chain, the echelons include supplier, manufacturer, warehouse, and customer in the forward supply chain and collection centers, repair services, and disposal centers in the reverse supply chain. In the proposed model, four objectives of customer satisfaction, environmental effects, supply risk, and total costs of the supply chain were considered. The developed model is implemented in a supply chain of medical products, and after optimizing the model, the main results including location and capacity of facilities, planning for flexible production, purchase of materials, service and maintenance plan, product transfer, and inventory level are determined and analyzed.

Production-Distribution Problem Optimization in a Green Closed-Loop Supply Chain

Integrated production-distribution planning in traditional forward supply chain has attracted a lot of attention in recent years and its economic advantages are particularly noticeable. In this paper, the issue of integrated production-distribution planning of a multi-level green closed loop, including recycling centers, manufacturing / remanufacturing factories and decentralized distribution centers, is investigated. A three-level bi-objective model with the aim of increasing profit and reducing the adverse environmental effects is presented. A revised multi-choice goal programming approach and a hierarchical iteration algorithm is used to solve it.

Minimizing Macro-Level Uncertainties for Quality Assurance in Reverse Logistics Supply Chains of Demolition Waste

In light of the increasing detrimental effects on sustainability, the reverse logistics supply chain (RLSC) has emerged as one of the remedies in the construction industry, whereby the bulk of demolition waste (DW) is returned into the production cycle. Quality assurance (QA) plays an important role in RLSCs, which needs an information-rich environment enriched with external stakeholders’ influence strategies. However, due to ineffective external stakeholders’ influence, useful information is not available, making macro-level uncertainties for QA. Given this, the current study aimed to identify the macro-level uncertainties for QA in the RLSC of DW. The study used a qualitative approach involving 21 semi-structured interviews representing five external stakeholder categories. The study found the regulatory uncertainties are the root causes that propagate through incentivizing and contractual uncertainties to influence QA in the RLSC. The external stakeholders could employ measures such as ‘reforming regulatory instruments’, ‘employing effective incentivizing schemes’ and ‘active involvement of forward supply chain actors’ to minimize uncertainties at their source. The external and internal stakeholders can use these findings as a roadmap to determine suitable measures to overcome macro-level uncertainties in the RLSC. Furthermore, the study paved an avenue to integrate stakeholder theory and organizational information processing theory (OIPT) in future research.