Network design for reverse logistics

Collection and recycling of product returns is gaining interest in business and research worldwide. Growing green concerns and advancement of green supply chain management (GrSCM) concepts and practices make it all the more relevant. Inputs from literature and informal interviews with 84 stakeholders are used to develop a conceptual model for simultaneous location-allocation of facilities for a cost effective and efficient reverse logistics (RL) network. We cover costs and operations across a wide domain and our proposed RL network consists of collection centers and two types of rework facilities set up by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) or their consortia for a few categories of product returns under various strategic, operational and customer service constraints in the Indian context. In this paper, we provide an integrated holistic conceptual framework that combines descriptive modeling with optimization techniques at the methodological level. We also provide detailed solutions for network configuration and design at the topological level, by carrying out experimentation with our conceptual model. Our findings provide useful insights to various stakeholders and suggest avenues for further research. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.