Supply chain coordination with reverse logistics: A vendor/recycler-buyer synchronized cycles model

In this paper, we develop a synchronized cycles vendor-buyer coordination model where the single vendor is both a producer and recycler/remanufacturer, and there are multiple buyers. This model is an extension of the general single-vendor multi-buyer synchronization model to incorporate reverse logistics, and it includes costs associated with production, remanufacturing, transportation and holding inventory. The reverse logistics in the model is achieved by having the vendor pick up returned products from the buyers and then reprocess them for resale. Similar to the original synchronization model, the synchronization of our model is attained by coordinating the vendor's production cycle with both new products’ delivery cycles for transportation from the vendor to the buyers and used products’ pick-up cycles for transportation from the buyers to the vendor/recycler. A genetic algorithm is used for solving the problem. Numerical results show the benefits from this new synchronized cycles model compared to independent optimization with reverse logistics. Our findings further show that under low levels of returning products, the synchronized cycles coordination model with reverse logistics can reduce total system costs when compared with the independent optimization model without reverse logistics. Examples also show how the model with reverse logistics can perform economically better than the model without reverse logistics.     

A pro-active and collaborative approach to reverse logistics—a case study

Reverse logistics is considered to be the key for re-manufacturing and sustainable development. It has gained increasing attention in the last decade and has been a new frontier of strategic management. One of the driving forces for firms to adopt the reverse logistics practice is cost saving from reverse logistics activities. Another motivation to put reverse logistics forward is probably due to environmental impacts on non-returnable materials. Reverse logistics, however, may require cooperation of more than one company and hence it is generally poorly managed due to self-interest of different companies. Therefore, a pro-active and collaborative approach to reverse logistics is demanded. This paper reports a case study of using returnable packaging materials between a manufacturer and an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) supplier. A cross-company team was established to pursue the goal of the reverse logistics project. Tangible and intangible benefits of reverse logistics from this case study are presented in this paper.     

跨国双向供应链物流合作模型分析

针对中欧班列去回程商品双向流动的现实问题，构建了跨国双向供应链的物流合作模型。考虑境内外物流公司搭建合作平台，通过制定激励策略来缩小双向运量差和提升运载总量，对比物流非合作与物流合作下的双向供应链运作以及平台的激励作用，为中欧班列的市场化运营提供微观运作基础。研究发现：物流合作平台的建立在达到自身激励目标的同时还提高了供应链整体收益，有利于推动中欧班列市场化运营，但是，缩小运量差与提升运量总量这两个激励目标之间存在一定的“对冲效应”。     

Six things to manage--Designs

Transportation in reverse logistics (RL) plays a significant role and has impact on overall RL performance. Efficiency, effectiveness and impact are the distinct components of RL transportation. Balancing these components requires the implementation of an effective performance measurement (PM) system. The perspectives of balanced scorecard have been used where enterprises can link their performance to their transportation practices, which do not provide an understanding of the RL transportation operating objectives and the developing strategies through an analysis of stakeholders. This article proposes the comprehensive PM of transportation system, which is multi-angle perspective for RL enterprises. Recognising the multiple criteria nature of the problem, this article uses analytical hierarchy process methodology in order to find an overall comprehensive performance index, which is critical to the success of the RL transportation operations to assist logistics managers, researchers, transportation planners and decision-makers.     

Issues in end-of-life product recovery and reverse logistics

There is a fundamental shift in waste management responsibility from the private waste management industry and local governments towards manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. In recent years the responsibility of manufacturers has been extended to cover the entire life of certain products. This also includes responsibility for the products safe disposal. As the enforcement of environmental legislation becomes more stringent and an increasing number of customers are demanding take-back of their old products, companies are beginning to focus on possible distribution channels for the return of their products i.e. reverse logistics. The aim of this paper is to examine the emerging issues in reverse logistics, in particular the information requirements for reverse logistics within the Extended Enterprise. A study of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) will illustrate the specific information flow between the key players within the automotive industry. This paper addresses the initial development of possible distribution channels, their key operational decisions and supporting information systems for the recycling of end of life products.     

A strategy for third-party logistics systems: A case analysis using the blue ocean strategy

One of today's most frequently discussed topics in the business world is how to escape from the intense Red Ocean and how to create an uncontested Blue Ocean. However, because there are few practical guidelines available on this topic, we will introduce a case study of a third-party logistics (3PL) provider, CJ-Global Logistics Service (CJ-GLS), to show how it aspires to be a leader in the newly introduced 3PL industry in South Korea. CJ-GLS is a latecomer in the logistics industry, and its resources, such as the number of trucks and warehouses, are relatively small in comparison to those of established companies. But, it has achieved a distinct competitive advantage through innovative information technology (i.e., RFID—radio frequency identification), which has enabled it to create an uncontested market space, electronic logistics business. One remarkable fact about CJ-GLS is that its swift growth comes not from attracting competitors’ customers from the existing Red Ocean market but from creating a Blue Ocean market (3PL market), which previously existing incumbents ignored, and also from constructing a new business model founded on a RFID-based, ubiquitous-oriented 3PL system. Analyzed through a Four Actions Framework and characterized as Blue Ocean, this case study provides valuable information on how a company reinforces its competitive advantage from the Red Ocean while it transitions into a Blue Ocean by utilizing advanced information communication technologies.     

基于不同TPL权力的电商供应链决策研究

第三方物流企业受到政府补贴的大力扶持,物流服务显著提升,对消费者网购产生积极影响,逐渐享有供应链话语权。通过分析物流服务供应商的物流成本结构,分别考虑物流投资与物流成本函数,从第三方物流供应链权力视角构建三种电商供应链物流外包权力结构场景(物流服务商主导模式、物流服务商次主导模式和物流服务商跟随模式),综合研究第三方物流企业权力对电商物流外包供应链决策的影响。结果表明,当物流服务商权力越小时,物流服务水平、市场规模、制造商利润和网络零售商利润越大。而不同权力结构下的批发价格、零售价格、物流服务商利润关系受到物流投资系数和物流配送费用的共同影响。当满足条件时,物流服务商跟随模式使得供应链实现帕累托最优。不同第三方物流企业处于不同权力地位时,供应链利润均随物流配送费用的增加、物流投资系数的增加,物流成本系数的减小而增加。据此对不同的物流补贴政策效果进行分析,并为政策制定者和供应链主体提供参考性意见。     

Barriers to the Implementation of Environmentally Oriented Reverse Logistics: Evidence from the Automotive Industry Sector

Even though reverse logistics has existed as long as forward logistics, growing social concern for the environment has caused reverse logistics activities to become a critical function for many organizations. Yet, barriers to implementation of environmentally oriented aspects of reverse logistics still exist. The aim of the present study is to identify the barriers that impede or hinder the implementation of environmentally oriented reverse logistics practices, with a focus on the automotive industry. Empirical evidence and robust statistical analysis provide insights into the practices of environmentally oriented reverse logistics and barriers encountered in the Spanish automotive sector. Using structural equation modelling we are able identify two types of barriers, external and internal, and to study whether these barriers, previously identified in the literature, hinder environmentally oriented reverse logistics practices. The model also allows for identification of the most relevant barriers for the automotive sector.     

住房反向抵押贷款保险市场博弈演化模型研究

针对目前我国住房反向抵押贷款保险市场"供需双冷"的问题,本文从供给需求角度入手,构建了住房反向抵押贷款保险市场主体博弈模型,运用演化博弈理论分析了老年人和保险公司策略选择的动态变化过程,研究了住房反向抵押贷款保险市场的演化路径,揭示了市场的演化规律.模型解析及数值算例结果表明:当保险公司开展住房反向抵押贷款保险业务的成本收入率处于0和1之间,同时老年人的效用比大于1时,市场具有(申请,开展),(不申请,不开展)两个演化稳定均衡;老年人或保险公司对住房反向抵押贷款保险的初始接受程度超过特定阈值是市场收敛至(申请,开展)均衡的必要条件;市场收敛至(申请,开展)的概率与博弈支付矩阵的结构和参数密切相关.本文的结论可以为政府提供决策支持,以制定合适的政策,引导并促进住房反向抵押贷款保险市场健康有序发展.     

Partner selection for reverse logistics centres in green supply chains: a fuzzy artificial immune optimisation approach

The design of reverse logistics networks has now emerged as a major issue for manufacturers, not only in developed countries where legislation and societal pressures are strong, but also in developing countries where the adoption of reverse logistics practices may offer a competitive advantage. This paper presents a new model for partner selection for reverse logistic centres in green supply chains. The model offers three advantages. Firstly, it enables economic, environment and social factors to be considered simultaneously. Secondly, by integrating fuzzy set theory and artificial immune optimisation technology, it enables both quantitative and qualitative criteria to be considered simultaneously throughout the whole decision-making process. Thirdly, it extends the flat criteria structure for partner selection evaluation for reverse logistics centres to the more suitable hierarchy structure. The applicability of the model is demonstrated by means of an empirical application based on data from a Chinese electronic equipment and instruments manufacturing company.     

An integrated closed-loop product lifecycle management approach for reverse logistics design

Nowadays, reverse logistics is gaining importance for many companies in different industries. This importance is rooted in the fact that it generates profit and decreases the environmental impacts of products. Even though the decrease of environmental impacts is an indispensable requisite, reverse logistics design is only driven by cost indicators. The main reason behind this high cost is access to environmental information is difficult and is directly linked to data all along the lifecycle of the product. This paper presents a method by which reverse logistics design integrates environmental impacts based on the management of closed-loop product lifecycle. This method is divided into two processes: from beginning of life to end of life and from end of life to beginning of life. The first process integrates product data in order to calculate environmental impacts of the potential reverse logistics networks, whereas the second process selects the most appropriate reverse logistics network before optimising the product based on this particular network. The proposition is illustrated by a case study on a recycled aluminium automotive part.     

突发疫情环境下考虑订单释放时间的零售物流配送路径优化研究

“新冠肺炎”疫情突发严重危及了人们的生活安全，而物流保障在疫情防控、保民生活、稳定社会方面却起到了重要支撑作用。以保证民生的零售物流配送为背景，本文研究考虑订单释放时间的车辆路径优化问题，以配送完工时间与运输成本的加权之和最小为目标，构建了线性规划模型,并设计了改进的迭代局部搜索求解算法。该算法采用基于多种邻域结构和改进的US算法的局部搜索过程以增强算法的寻优能力，通过引入大路径和最优分割过程获得高质量的初始解和打破机制以增强算法的搜索效率。同时，提出一些性质用于拉格朗日松弛算法，为本文研究问题提供高质量的下界。最后，数值实验部分通过求解标杆算例和文中算例验证了模型和算法的有效性，并对订单释放时间和模型参数进行灵敏度分析，结果表明本文模型和算法能够为零售物流配送的效率提升和成本控制提供有效的决策支持。     

碳交易政策下多式联运路径选择问题的鲁棒优化研究

针对碳交易政策下的多式联运路径选择问题,考虑运输时间和单位运费率不确定且其概率分布未知的情况,引入鲁棒优化建模方法对其进行研究。首先利用box不确定集合刻画分布未知的运输时间和运费率,然后在碳交易政策下确定模型的基础上,构建鲁棒性可调节的多式联运路径选择模型,并通过对偶转化得到相对易求解的鲁棒等价模型。实例分析表明,鲁棒模型能较好地处理参数概率分布未知的多式联运路径选择问题,方便决策者根据偏好调整不确定预算水平进行决策。运输时间和单位运费率的不确定性都会影响多式联运路径决策,但是作用机理有所不同。将上述碳交易政策下的模型拓展到其他低碳政策,结果表明多种低碳政策的组合能更好实现多式联运减排。     

An Efficient Heuristic Procedure for Practical-Sized Capacitated Warehouse Design and Management*

The purpose of this paper is to refine and test a distribution system design model and evaluate its performance with respect to solution quality, model validation, and algorithm performance. The paper reports on the development of a multiproduct warehouse logistics model. The logistics model is used to predict the performance of distribution companies that typically have to deal with product costs, the cost to distribute the products from a set of warehouses to customer outlets, the level of service provided to its customers, and flexibility for each product group and market segment.     

3PL参与的时变需求变质品三级供应链模型

随着现代物流业的发展,企业将一些业务如运输等外包已经成为参与当今市场竞争的一种手段和趋势,因此考虑包含第三方物流服务提供商（3PL）的供应链更具有现实和理论意义。但是现有文献很少考虑3PL对包含时间因素的变质品供应链模型的影响。基于此,本文建立了一个包含3PL的时变需求变质品三级供应链模型,并运用动态博弈理论求解了该模型的分散式下的均衡解。研究表明与制造商单独承担运输费用相比,由3PL承担运输费用使得产品的订货周期缩短,订货量减少。通过对比分散式决策和集中式决策下的最优解,研究发现考虑系统总体利润情况下,集中式决策的方式不能使该供应链达到协调。最后给出算例验证结论的正确性。     

不同市场能力下的“电商—平台—物流”在线销售系统的决策研究

近年来,随着互联网的快速发展,市场上衍生出了一些在线销售网站。考虑了一个包含电商卖家、电商平台和物流公司的在线销售系统模型,其中需求依赖于产品价格、平台和物流服务水平。研究了当物流、平台同时决策时,在线销售系统中电商卖家和平台、物流之间的不同市场能力结构问题。考虑了3种不同市场能力的分散决策模型:(1)物流-平台Stackelberg模型;(2)电商Stackelberg模型;(3)Nash模型。相关的均衡解和最优利润被得到。研究结果表明,在不同的市场能力结构下,当物流公司和平台同时决策时,即使他们的服务投入不相同,但最优收费相同。市场能力结构对在线销售成员和消费者有重要的影响。对电商而言,当市场能力较高时,会制定较低的零售价格,并获得最多的利润,同时能够提升消费者购买的积极性;当市场能力较低时,电商会制定较高的零售价格,并获得最少的利润。对平台和物流公司而言,当市场能力较高时,会制定比较高的收费,同时付出较少的努力,但并不能获得最高利润,同时会打击消费者的积极性;但是,当市场能力较低时,他们一定获得最少的利润。在Nash模型中,平台和物流公司会付出最大的努力,同时获得最大的利润,而整个在线销售系统的总利润也是最多。在物流-平台Stackelberg模型中,平台和物流公司付出的努力最少,而整个在线销售系统的总利润也最少。     

考虑质量成本的物流服务供应链纵向整合策略研究

本文聚焦于物流服务供应链中的纵向整合问题,考虑由一个物流服务集成商和两个物流服务提供商构成的供应链系统,基于物流服务质量成本分别构建纵向分散和纵向整合模式下的质量博弈模型,探讨纵向整合策略对物流服务供应链运作效率的影响,分析纵向整合策略存在的市场条件。研究表明,竞争强度是影响企业决策和策略选择的关键因素;纵向整合会对接受整合的物流服务提供商产生“协同效应”,而对未被整合的物流服务提供商产生“外部效应”;当且仅当竞争强度较大时,物流服务集成商和物流服务提供商会同时选择纵向整合,既有利于提升整体物流服务质量水平,又能降低物流服务质量实现成本。     

连锁超市配送中心逆向物流量及其库存成本模型研究

连锁超市配送中心逆向物流量显赫,超常规占用大量库存空间和资金成本鲜为人知。本文在深入分析连锁超市配送中心逆向物流量的分类及成因的基础上,构建了由商业回流、终端回流、维修回流、包装回流和生产回流等五类回流所产生的连锁超市配送中心逆向物流量的计算模型,模型中构建考虑产品指数平滑系数预测的基础上导入了对连锁超市产品回流有放大影响的趋势平滑系数、季节性平滑系数、退货率、损毁率、次品率等多项指标参数,并进一步推导了连锁超市配送中心逆向物流库存成本计算模型;接着,通过算例计算了连锁超市配送中心产品逆向物流及其库存成本,分析了不同参数变化下的逆向物流库存成本值的影响程度,论证了本模型的有效性和实用性。最后给出了连锁超市配送中心逆向物流库存成本降低途径。     

COMPETITION IN REMANUFACTURING

We present a two‐period model of remanufacturing in the face of competition. In our model, an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) competes with a local remanufacturer (L) under many reverse logistics configurations for the returned items. After establishing the Nash Equilibrium in the second period sub‐game, we use numerical experiments for comparative statics. OEM wants to increase L'S remanufacturing cost. Surprisingly, while L competes in the sales market, she has incentives to reduce oem's remanufacturing cost. A social planner who wants to increase remanufacturing can give incentives to the OEM to increase the fraction available for remanufacturing, or reduce his remanufacturing costs.     

网购快递物流服务系统测评的枝模型仿真

以网购环境为背景,运用物流服务理论与系统动力学理论,通过对快递物流服务的流程分析,构建网购快递物流服务系统测评体系,对此体系和物流服务质量这一主变量分别进行了因果关系分析,进而构建了物流服务质量下的配送及时率这一附属变量的系统动力学枝模型,并对模型进行了量纲化检验、敏感性检验以及极端条件测试以证明模型的正确性;在此基础上,将申通、圆通、中通以及韵达四家快递企业的数据运用到Vensim软件对枝模型进行实证仿真并得出以此变量为根据的快递企业排名,为网购快递物流服务的测评提供一种新的方法。