Reverse supply chains : issues and analysis

''Reverse supply chains consist of a series of activities required to collect used products from consumers and reprocess them to either recover their leftover market values or dispose of them. It has become common for companies involved in a traditional (forward) supply chain (series of activities required to produce new products from virgin materials and distribute them to consumers) to also carry out collection and reprocessing of used products (reverse supply chain). Strict environmental regulations and diminishing raw material resources have intensified the importance of reverse supply chains at an increasing rate. In addition to being environment friendly, effective management of reverse supply chain operations leads to higher profitability by reducing transportation, inventory and warehousing costs. Moreover, reverse supply chain operations have a strong impact on the operations of forward supply chain such as the occupancy of the storage spaces and transportation capacity''-- Read more... Content: Reverse logistics -- Issues and challenges in reverse logistics -- New-product design metrics for efficient reverse supply chains -- Application of theory of constraints' thinking processes in a reverse logistics process -- Modeling supplier selection in reverse supply chains -- General modeling framework for cost/benefit analysis of remanufacturing -- Integrated inventory models for retail pricing and return reimbursements in a JLT environment for remanufacturing a product -- Advanced remanufacturing-to-order and disassembly-to-order system under demand/decision uncertainty -- Importance of green and resilient SCM practices for the competitiveness of the automotive industry -- Balanced principal solution for green supply chain under governmental regulations -- Barrier analysis to improve green in existing supply chain management -- River formation dynamics approach for sequence-dependent disassembly line balancing problem -- Graph-based approach for modeling, simulation, and optimization of life cycle resource flows -- Delivery and pickup problems with time windows -- Materials flow analysis as a tool for understanding long-term developments. Abstract: ''Reverse supply chains consist of a series of activities required to collect used products from consumers and reprocess them to either recover their leftover market values or dispose of them. It has become common for companies involved in a traditional (forward) supply chain (series of activities required to produce new products from virgin materials and distribute them to consumers) to also carry out collection and reprocessing of used products (reverse supply chain). Strict environmental regulations and diminishing raw material resources have intensified the importance of reverse supply chains at an increasing rate. In addition to being environment friendly, effective management of reverse supply chain operations leads to higher profitability by reducing transportation, inventory and warehousing costs. Moreover, reverse supply chain operations have a strong impact on the operations of forward supply chain such as the occupancy of the storage spaces and transportation capacity'' " ... compiles the research, thoughts and experiences of nearly three dozen supply chain experts from across the globe. Veteran industrial engineering professor and author Surendra M. Gupta edited the compilation. The 15 chapters begin with a discussion of reverse logistics and its issues and challenges, continuing on to deal with designing new products with reverse logistics in mind, advanced remanufacturing applications (including integrated inventory models), modeling supplier selection, removing barriers to "greening" your supply chains, material flow, strategy and dealing with governmental regulation. It includes metrics, case studies, modeling and optimization."--IIE Book of the Month December 2013" ... addresses a very important issue, reverse supply chain management, which soon is expected become mandatory for various business due to environmental, regulatory and financial considerations. The timing of the book couldn't be more appropriate. ... will allow the readers to understand the reverse supply chains better as well as will aid in their decision making processes while trying to decide on the problem solving methodologies they should involve."-Elif Kongar, University of Bridgeport, Connecticut" ... This is a timely issue which contains a fine and balanced selection of ethodologies and practical results in the field of the pacing "green manufacturing" industries. It is likely to be of use both for academia people and industry practitioners interested in gaining a competitive advance for their organizations."-F.G. Filip, The Romanian Academy, Bucharest"This book gives a thorough view of a large number of important issues in Reverse Logistics, with detailed surveys, mathematical models, analyses, case studies, and numerical examples. It is self-contained for any academician or practitioner interested in Reverse Logistics, Environmentally Conscious .. "Reverse supply chains consist of a series of activities required to collect used products from consumers and reprocess them to either recover their leftover market values or dispose of them. It has become common for companies involved in a traditional (forward) supply chain (series of activities required to produce new products from virgin materials and distribute them to consumers) to also carry out collection and reprocessing of used products (reverse supply chain). Strict environmental regulations and diminishing raw material resources have intensified the importance of reverse supply chains at an increasing rate. In addition to being environment friendly, effective management of reverse supply chain operations leads to higher profitability by reducing transportation, inventory and warehousing costs. Moreover, reverse supply chain operations have a strong impact on the operations of forward supply chain such as the occupancy of the storage spaces and transportation capacity"-- Provided by publisher Production, and Reverse/Closed-loop Supply Chain Management."--Kishore Kumar Pochampally, Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester" ... the book presents different models for analyzing reverse supply chains, mostly from an industrial engineering perspective. An IE researcher will realize the lack of environmental considerations in the mathematical optimization models, particularly metrics that report on environmental impact of products and processes, and that gap may provide opportunities for collaboration between the two fields."-Gilvan C. Souza, Indiana University, USA in Journal of Industrial Ecology Winner of IIE Book of the Month, December 2013The introduction of reverse supply chains has created many challenges in network design, transportation, selection of used products, selection and evaluation of suppliers, performance measurement, marketing-related issues, end-of-life (EOL) alternative selection, remanufacturing, disassembly, and produc