Cost Allocation in Manufacturing–Remanufacturing Operations

For firms remanufacturing their products, the total life‐cycle costs and revenues from new and remanufactured products determine their profitability. In many firms, manufacturing/sales and remanufacturing/remarketing operations are carried out in different divisions. Each division is responsible for only part of the product's life cycle. Practices regarding transfer pricing across divisions vary significantly among companies, affecting the life‐cycle profit performance of the product. In this research, we identify characteristics of transfer prices that achieve the firm‐wide optimal solution. To this end, we consider a manufacturer who also undertakes remanufacturing operations and we focus on price (quantity) decisions. We determine that a cost allocation mechanism that allocates a portion of the initial production cost to each of the two stages of the product life cycle should be used. We also conclude that cost allocation should be implemented as a fixed cost allocation, where charges to the remanufacturing division should be determined independently of the actual quantity of units remanufactured.     

Joint Life‐Cycle Dynamics of New and Remanufactured Products

Many products considered for remanufacturing are durables that exhibit a well‐pronounced product life cycle—they diffuse gradually through the market. The remanufactured product, which is a cheaper substitute for the new product, is often put on the market during the life cycle of the new product and affects its sales dynamics. In this paper, we study the integrated dynamic management of a portfolio of new and remanufactured products that progressively penetrate a potential market over the product life cycle. To this end, we extend the Bass diffusion model in a way that maintains the two essential features of remanufacturing settings: (a) substitution between new and remanufactured products, and (b) a constraint on the diffusion of remanufactured products due to the limited supply of used products that can be remanufactured. We identify characteristics of the diffusion paths of new and remanufactured products. Finally, we analyze the impact of levers such as remanufacturability level, capacity profile and reverse channel speed on profitability.     

The Effect of Competition on Recovery Strategies

Manufacturers often face a choice of whether to recover the value in their end‐of‐life products through remanufacturing. In many cases, firms choose not to remanufacture, as they are (rightly) concerned that the remanufactured product will cannibalize sales of the higher‐margin new product. However, such a strategy may backfire for manufacturers operating in industries where their end‐of‐life products (cell phones, tires, computers, automotive parts, etc.) are attractive to third‐party remanufacturers, who may seriously cannibalize sales of the original manufacturer. In this paper, we develop models to support a manufacturer's recovery strategy in the face of a competitive threat on the remanufactured product market. We first analyze the competition between new and remanufactured products produced by a monopolist manufacturer and identify conditions under which the firm would choose not to remanufacture its products. We then characterize the potential profit loss due to external remanufacturing competition and analyze two entry‐deterrent strategies: remanufacturing and preemptive collection. We find that a firm may choose to remanufacture or preemptively collect its used products to deter entry, even when the firm would not have chosen to do so under a pure monopoly environment. Finally, we discuss conditions under which each strategy is more beneficial.     

第三方回收商领导型两级闭环供应链的回收与定价策略

与一般废旧产品的回收产品再制造相比,废弃电子电器产品回收拆解后需要兼顾产品与零部件再制造,从而减少电子电器产品对环境的污染,推进资源的重复利用。为了探讨第三方回收商的回收与定价策略对供应商和制造商的影响,本文构建由单一供应商、制造商和第三方回收商组成的两级再制造闭环供应链,建立Stackelberg博弈模型,研究两级再制造情形下和仅产品再制造情形下回收商的有效回收比例、回收定价和回收努力程度等决策,并对两种再制造情形下供应链各成员的决策与收益进行对比分析。研究发现：对于回收商而言,回收数量、有效回收比例的增加有助于回收商获得更多的额外收益。如果在仅产品再制造情形下的有效回收比例较大,回收商的决策和收益主要取决于无效零部件的回收价。当无效零部件的回收价较低时,回收商在仅产品再制造情形下的决策和收益更优;反之,回收商在两级再制造情形下的决策和收益更优。对于其他供应链成员而言,两种再制造策略都能够降低供应商和制造商的定价,促进市场需求的增加。具体而言,不同的再制造策略对批发价、零售价和市场需求的影响与有效回收比例和无效零部件的回收价密切相关。     

Take‐Back Legislation: Consequences for Remanufacturing and Environment

In the last two decades, many countries have enacted product take‐back legislation that holds manufacturers responsible for the collection and environmentally sound treatment of end‐of‐use products. In an industry regulated by such legislation, we consider a manufacturer that also sells remanufactured products under its brand name. Using a stylized model, we consider three levels of legislation: no take‐back legislation, legislation with collection targets, and legislation with collection and reuse targets. We characterize the optimal solution for the manufacturer and analyze how various levels of legislation affect manufacturing, remanufacturing, and collection decisions. First, we explore whether legislation with only collection targets causes an increase in remanufacturing levels, which is argued to be an environmentally friendlier option for end‐of‐use treatment than other options such as recycling. While increased remanufacturing alone is usually perceived as a favorable environmental outcome, if one considers the overall environmental impact of new and remanufactured products, this might not be the case. To study this issue, we model the environmental impact of the product following a life cycle analysis–based approach. We characterize the conditions under which increased remanufacturing due to take‐back legislation causes an increase in total environmental impact. Finally, we model the impact of legislation on consumer surplus and manufacturer profits and identify when total welfare goes down because of legislation.     

混合需求下考虑专利保护因素的闭环供应链定价与协调

在新产品需求为随机需求,再制造产品需求受销售价格影响的混合需求条件下,以博弈论为主要工具,研究了受专利保护的再制造闭环供应链的定价与协调问题,分析了集中决策和分散决策两种情形下的新产品最优订购量、废旧产品最优回收价格、最优专利许可费用、再制造品最优零售价格以及供应链的最优利润,并通过收益分享一费用分担契约对闭环供应链系统进行了协调,并通过数值算例验证了集中决策和分散决策情形下再制造成本节约对供应链成员的最优决策和利润的影响,以及收益分享.费用分担契约对闭环供应链的协调效果。研究表明再制造受专利保护的情况下,原制造商能通过专利许可费来影响第三方再制造商回收的废旧产品的回收价格和回收量,进而去影响原制造商和第三方再制造商的收益。     

Revenue and Cost Management for Remanufactured Products

This paper considers pricing and remanufacturing strategy of a firm that decides to offer both new and remanufactured versions of its product in the market and is concerned with demand cannibalization. We present a model of demand cannibalization and a behavioral study that estimates a key modeling parameter: a fraction of consumers who switch from new to remanufactured product. As we show, this fraction has an inverted‐U shape, and, thus, the underlying consumer behavior cannot be modeled using the standard methodologies that rely on consumers' willingness to pay (WTP). We find that by incorporating the inverted‐U‐shaped consumer behavior, the firm remanufactures under broader conditions, charges a much lower price, and typically remanufactures more units—leading to an increase of profits from remanufacturing by up to a factor of two as compared with making decisions based on the WTP only. Lastly, we find that the behavior of the low‐price market segment plays an important role because the firm reacts to it differently than the WTP‐based logic would suggest.     

Effects of Remanufacturable Product Design on Market Segmentation and the Environment

Despite documented benefits of remanufacturing, many manufacturers have yet to embrace the idea of tapping into remanufactured‐goods markets. In this article, we explore this dichotomy and analyze the effect of remanufacturable product design on market segmentation and product and trade‐in prices by studying a two‐stage profit‐maximization problem in which a price‐setting manufacturer can choose whether or not to open a remanufactured‐goods market for its product. Our results suggest that it is optimal for a manufacturer to design a remanufacturable product when the value‐added from remanufacturing is relatively high but product durability is relatively low and innovation is nominal. In addition, we find that entering a remanufactured‐goods market in and of itself does not necessarily translate into environmental friendliness. On the one hand, the optimal trade‐in program could result in low return and/or remanufacturing rates. On the other hand, a low price for remanufactured products could attract higher demand and thereby potentially result in more damage to the environment. Meanwhile, external restrictions imposed on total greenhouse gas emissions draw criticism in their own right because they risk stifling growth or reducing overall consumer welfare. Given these trade‐offs, we therefore develop and compare several measures of environmental efficiency and conclude that emissions per revenue can serve as the best proxy for emissions as a metric for measuring overall environmental stewardship.     

基于旧件质量和“以旧换再”补贴的分级定价研究

以旧换再补贴政策已经在我国试点施行，相关原型新品和再制品的市场购买行为和企业定价决策受此影响。根据传统销售和售后渠道以及消费者持有旧件质量的不同细分市场，考虑到消费者的"以旧换再"偏好程度构建了制造商分级定价利润模型并分段优化，得到了"以旧换再"补贴下的最优分级定价决策，面向企业给出了旧件分级再制造的成本条件，面向政府给出了授予企业产品补贴资格的参考依据。考虑到再制造领先企业和一般企业再制造条件的不同，采用算例分析展示了补贴对领先企业及一般企业再制造分级定价决策的影响，并分析了消费者"以旧换再"偏好程度的变化对企业分级再制造决策的影响。结果表明，分级定价可以提高再制造系统的整体利润；换购补贴对促进再制造领先企业与一般企业再制造体系发展的积极作用不同，政府应根据产业及企业特点结合其他举措选择实施补贴的时机和补贴比例。     

合约回收制对闭环供应链影响分析

为了提高再制造闭环供应链的运作效率,文章设计了新的回收方式——合约回收制,并研究了这种回收方式对消费者、企业和整体供应链的影响。在新产品和再造品同时存在的混合市场前提下,文章主要讨论了制造商(M模式)、经销商(R模式)和第三方回收商(3P模式)各自为回收再造主体时,合约回收制对产品定价、回收率、行业规模等因素的影响。研究结果表明:(1)消费者受益于合约回收制;(2)合约回收制壮大了闭环供应链的规模;(3)回收率与再造品评价成正比,与新产品评价成反比,其中R模式和3P模式中回收率因合约回收制而提高;(4)制造商均受益于合约回收制,但经销商和第三方需满足部分条件才可获益。     

Lot Sizing for Optimal Collection and Use of Remanufacturable Returns over a Finite Life‐Cycle

Reverse supply chains process used product returns to recover value by re‐processing them via remanufacturing operations. When remanufacturing is feasible, the longer the return flows are delayed during the active (primary) market demand period of the product, the lower the value that can be recovered through these operations. In fact, in order to recover the highest value from remanufactured products, the collection rates, return timings, and reusability rates should be matched with the active market demand and supply. With these motivations, this paper is aimed at developing analytical models for the efficient use of returns in making production, inventory, and remanufacturing decisions during the active market. More specifically, we consider a stylistic setting where a collector collects used product returns and ships them to the manufacturer who, in turn, recovers value by remanufacturing and supplies products during the active market demand. Naturally, the manufacturer's production, inventory and remanufacturing decisions and costs are influenced by the timing and quantity of the collector's shipments of used product returns. Hence, we investigate the impact of the timing of returns on the profitability of the manufacturer‐collector pair by developing system‐wide cost optimization models. Analyzing the properties of the optimal shipment frequency, we observe that the fastest reverse supply chain may not always be the most efficient one.     

An Analysis of the Eco‐Efficiency of Remanufactured Personal Computers and Mobile Phones

Remanufacturing, long perceived as an environmentally friendly initiative, is supported by a number of governments. Yet, the assumption that remanufacturing is desirable to society has never been systematically investigated. In this paper, we examine the effectiveness and eco‐efficiency of remanufacturing in the personal computer and mobile phone industries. We investigate whether remanufacturing substantially reduces the environmental impact, as measured by cumulative energy demand (CED), generated over the life cycles (LCs) of these products, and the size of any reduction. We also examine the relative eco‐efficiency of remanufacturing compared with virgin manufacturing for these two products, where eco‐efficiency includes both willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) for the products as well as the energy consumed in producing the products. Our main findings are the following. One, remanufacturing is an effective way to reduce the total energy consumed during the LCs of personal computers and mobile phones, with one notable exception, when the life spans of remanufactured products are substantially shorter than the life spans of their new counterparts. Two, a remanufactured personal computer or mobile phone is not always more eco‐efficient than a corresponding new product. Three, the WTP for remanufactured personal computers and mobile phones, and consequently, their eco‐efficiencies, are a function of the prices of the correspondent new products at launch and years elapsed between launch and remanufacturing. Four, remanufactured units are sold at a discount relative to the price of new personal computers and mobile phones. Five, on the whole, the market for remanufactured mobile phones is more eco‐efficient than the market for new mobile phones. Six, the market for remanufactured computers is more eco‐efficient than the market for new computers. Lastly, because the group of remanufactured products is heterogeneous, not all remanufactured units are more eco‐efficient than the average new computer and mobile phone. We conclude with a discussion of the impact of our findings on European WEEE and WEEE‐like legislation.     

Optimal Policies for Selling New and Remanufactured Products

Because of environmental and economic reasons, an increasing number of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) nowadays sell both new and remanufactured products. When both products are available, customers will buy the one that gives them a higher (and non‐negative) utility. Thus, if the firm does not price the products properly, then product cannibalization may arise and its revenue may be adversely impacted. In this paper, we study the pricing problem of a firm that sells both new and remanufactured products over a finite planning horizon. Customer demand processes for both new and remanufactured products are random and price‐sensitive, and product returns (also called cores) are random and remanufactured upon receipt. We characterize the optimal pricing and manufacturing policies that maximize the expected total discounted profit. If new products are made‐to‐order (MTO), we show that when the inventory level of remanufactured product increases, the optimal price of remanufactured product decreases while the price difference between new and remanufactured products increases; however, the optimal selling price of new product may increase or decrease. If new products are made to stock (MTS), then the optimal manufacturing policy is of a base‐stock policy with the base‐stock level decreasing in the remanufactured product inventory level. To understand the potential benefit in implementing an MTO system, we study the difference between the value functions of the MTO and MTS systems, and develop lower and upper bounds for it. Finally, we study several extensions of the base model and show that most of our results extend to those more general settings.     

制造商竞争环境下基于产品生命周期的闭环供应链的定价和生产策略研究

研究制造商竞争环境下基于产品生命周期的闭环供应链的定价和生产策略:产品第一个生命周期中,只有一个制造商利用原材料生产新制造产品,从第二个周期开始制造商生产新品的同时进行回收再制造、并且出现替代品生产商的竞争。建立两周期双寡头垄断的闭环供应链定价和生产优化模型,得到最优策略,然后将其扩展到多周期和无限周期的情况。结果表明:两周期中制造商应根据再制造成本节约的大小而采取不同的定价和生产策略;多周期中,除第一和最后一个周期外,制造商应采取相同的策略;无限周期中,制造商应在出现竞争后一直采用相同策略。三种情况下,制造商都应在第一周期中低价销售产品来保证第二周期中能回收更多的产品用于再制造以取得低成本的竞争优势;而且随着再制造产品成本节约的增大,制造商旳利润和销售量增大,并且竞争者的利润和销售量减小。算例验证了上述结论。     

两级再制造的S-M闭环供应链的决策与绩效分析

供应商是再制造战略研究中不可忽视的决策主体之一,因为制造商的产品回收再制造战略会对供应商的零部件供应决策产生影响,而且处于强势背景的供应商也有选择是否参与零部件的回收再制造的权利。为了探讨产品和零部件的两级再制造战略对供应商和零售商的定价决策及收益的影响,本文运用Stackelberg博弈,对供应商强势背景下供应商选择参与和选择不参与零部件的回收再制造的两种Supplier-Manufacturer闭环供应链模型进行了研究,并对两种情形下的定价决策与收益进行了对比分析。最后得出以下结论:再制造战略对批发价决策的影响与产品的市场需求状况有关,对零售价决策的影响与回收风险状况有关;供应商应积极参与两级再制造战略,因为供应商选择供应可再制造的零部件使自身受益,并且参与零部件的回收再制造可以在降低批发价和零售价的基础上使双方受益。最后,运用数值算例验证了本文的研究结论,丰富了再制造战略对定价决策及收益影响的研究成果。     

考虑法律约束的两周期电子产品回收再制造决策研究

研究电子产品制造商面临政府回收法律约束时的再制造决策问题。第一个周期开始时,制造商生产并决定新产品的价格。当产品的生命周期到达时,面对政府制定的回收法律约束,制造商回收市场中的旧产品用于再制造。第二个周期开始时,制造商同时决策新产品和再造品的价格。研究发现：根据逆向运营成本(即回收成本与再制造成本之和)与新产品生产成本的不同组合,制造商对应五个不同的回收再制造策略;当逆向运营成本低于一定阈值时,法律强制回收不会影响企业的利润;而高于该阈值时,法律强制回收会减少企业的利润,因为较高的逆向运营成本使得企业没有意愿回收旧产品。此外,研究收集了实际数据并进行了案例分析,结果表明研究模型具有较强的稳健性。     

多再制造商回收定价竞争博弈

多个再制造商在同一回收市场中获取废旧产品并进行再制造,他们之间存在回收竞争.每个再制造商回收废旧产品的数量取决于自身付出的回收价格,同时和对手们的回收价格相关.目标是最大化各自的期望利润.本文首先利用优化理论和非合作博弈理论,证明了该博弈作为超模博弈,存在唯一的Nash均衡.然后通过比较发现竞争下的Nash均衡价格高于串谋下的合作均衡价格.最后通过数值仿真探讨了再制造商的数目和再制造成本对博弈的影响.     

基于异质性消费群体的再制造产品的定价策略研究

消费者对新产品和再制造产品具有不同支付意愿。在此基础上,对再制造产品具有不同接受度的异质性消费群体分别建立了再制造产品差异化定价模型和单一定价策略模型。研究了制造商对新产品和再制造产品进行差异化定价时,新产品和再制造产品的最优定价和与之相对应的产品回收率,并与单一定价策略进行了比较分析。通过数值仿真,讨论了不同参数对单一定价策略和差异化定价策略的利润和产品回收率的影响,并给出了相关结论。     

考虑奢侈与环保偏好的再制造品最优定价策略

把奢侈、环保偏好消费者考虑到再制造品市场需求中,研究了奢侈与环保消费者构成市场的再制造品最优定价策略,发现奢侈与环保偏好消费者比例不同的市场再制造品最优定价存在差异,并且差异价格随着消费者比例不同有所不同;同时发现在价格歧视的边界上,即奢侈消费者与绿色消费者比例存在某种特定关系时,差异价格可以获得相同的利润,却可以得到不同再制造品数量,这为制造商在利润不受损下,实现社会环保目标、提升绿色形象创造了一条路径。然后根据上述的不同的市场结构特征,建议制造商采取相应价格歧视策略,并通过算例验证了上述的结论。     

考虑再制造设计水平的多期闭环供应链网络均衡

再制造设计已应用于企业实践,利于产品的再制造过程,但需要额外的投资。本文以多个规划期为决策环境,以包含需求市场层、零售商层和制造商层的闭环供应链网络为研究对象,其中每层包含多个成员,研究了制造商产品可再制造性设计水平决策问题。政府规定最低可再制造设计水平,各制造商对新产品的可再制造设计水平、生产和交易等变量进行决策;正向渠道中零售商同时销售新产品和再制造品,逆向渠道中零售商受制造商委托,在每个规划期末,回收各需求市场产生的废旧品;消费者对新产品和再制造品评价不同,通常对新产品评价较高,而对再制造品评价较低,其对两种产品愿意支付的价格也会不同。利用变分不等式等理论获得制造商和零售商的均衡条件,并获得整个供应链网络均衡模型。采用修正投影收缩算法求解。通过算例对再制造投资影响因子、政府最低可再制造水平、消费者对再制造品的评价系数等参数对均衡结果的影响进行了分析,获得了在多规划期供应链网络环境下,制造商的产品可再制造设计水平和政府有关部门决策时需关注的问题等管理学启示。