Inventory management in sustainable closed-loop supply chains with continuous improvement

拟议的研究计划将受益于以前的研究项目所创造的知识，并以所获得的知识为基础，开发更能代表闭环供应链（CLSC）中环境问题的数学模型。它还将研究如何通过学习曲线来学习，以提高这些连锁店的可持续性表现。两种方法，经典和非经典，将用于研究CLSCs。经典方法侧重于在不考虑环境因素的情况下最小化CLSC的（经典）成本总和，而非经典方法将库存和物流系统与热力学系统进行类比，利用其规律来减少系统的熵（无序）并提高其可持续性能。

The proposed research program will benefit from the knowledge created in previous research projects and build on that acquired knowledge to develop mathematical models that are more representative of environmental issues in closed-loop supply chains (CLSC). It will also investigate how learning, captured by learning curves,  can improve the sustainability performance of such chains. Two approaches, classical and non-classical, will be used to study CLSCs. The classical approach focuses on minimizing the sum of (classical) costs of a CLSC with no consideration of environmental factors, while the non-classical approach draws a parallel between an inventory and logistics system and a thermodynamic system by using its laws to reduce the system’s entropy (disorder) and improve its sustainable performance.