Collaborative Research: Analytical Approaches for the Design and Operation of Closed-Loop Supply Chains

这笔赠款提供资金，为可再制造产品行业的闭环式供应链的设计和运作开发一个建模框架。再制造将传统制造和物流活动的范围扩大到包括正向和反向流动以及相应的正向和反向渠道活动。因此，需要将传统的单向供应链转变为闭环供应链。为了确保成功转型，这项研究将开发分析模型和有效的计算程序，以优化在闭环系统供应链系统中产生的网络设计和库存/生产计划决策。研究结果将为比较不同网络设计策略和不同播种和产品收集方式下的库存/生产计划策略的成本和其他物流绩效提供分析和计算工具。如果成功，本研究结果将拓宽物流理论应用于闭环供应链问题。预计研究结果还将启发人们对闭环供应链的有效设计和运营的见解，从而促进再制造实践在工业中的成功和广泛实施。此外，由于研究议程是与工业界合作制定的，该项目将促进工业界和学术伙伴之间更强有力的互动发展。

This grant provides funding for the development of a modeling framework for the design and operation of closed-loop supply chains in remanufacturable product industries. Remanufacturing extends the scope of traditional manufacturing and logistics activities to include forward and reverse flows as well as the corresponding forward and reverse channel activities. As a result, the traditional unidirectional supply chains need to be transformed into closed-loop supply chains. To ensure a successful transformation, this research will develop analytical models and efficient computational procedures for the optimization of network design and inventory/production planning decisions arising in the context of closed-loop supply chain systems. The results will provide analytical and computational tools for a comparison of cost and other logistical performance implications of i) alternative network design strategies, and ii) inventory/production planning policies under different seeding and product collection practices.If successful, the results of this research will broaden the theory of logistics as applied to closed-loop supply chain problems. The results are also expected to elicit insights into the efficient design and operation of closed-loop supply chains, and, hence, facilitate successful and widespread implementation of remanufacturing practices in industry. Moreover, as the research agenda has been developed in collaboration with industry, the project will foster the development of stronger interactions between the industry and academic partners.