Algebraic or Algorithmic: Searching for Optimal Solutions in Multi-Stage Supply Chain Models

In this paper we proposed an AMH Supply Chain model to obtain optimal solutions for Two-, Three- and Four-Stage for deterministic models. Besides deriving its algebraic solutions, a simple searching method is successfully applied in obtaining optimal total costs and its integer multipliers. Our model has shown promising results in comparison to Equal Cycle Time and other existing ones. The tests focused on obtaining optimal total annual costs and other related details of Two-, Three- and Four-Stage for deterministic models. The results are run under Visual Basic Programming platform using Intel? CoreTM2 Duo T6500 Processor.

Pricing and decision of carbon emission reduction for closed-loop supply chain considering carbon trading mechanism

To determine the optimal pricing and carbon emission reduction decision, a closed-loop supply chain with a manufacturer and a retailer is investigated. In this system, the manufacturer manufactures new products and remanufactures used products while the retailer is responsible for selling new products and remanufactured products. The profit functions of the manufacturer and the retailer are developed, and the corresponding solution formulae for decision variables are given by the Stackelberg game model. Finally, a numerical example is given, and the optimal wholesale price, retail price, carbon emission reduction and others are obtained. Through the sensitivity of the unit carbon allowance price, some significant managerial insights are derived.

Closed-loop supply chain network equilibrium strategy model with environmental protection objectives

With the increasing popularity of ecological civilization and sustainable development,enterprises should consider environmental protection measures in their operations in addition to pursue their economic interests.This paper establsihes a closed-loop supply chain network model composed of multiple suppliers,manufacturers,retailers,recyclers,and demand markets—regarding their dual goals of the profit maximization and the minimization of carbon emissions.The conditions necessary for establishing overall equilibrium and an equilibrium model of the entire closed-loop supply chain network are determined by applying variational inequality and dual theory.A modified projection contraction algorithm is used to design a model-solving program.Finally,using numerical examples,the paper conducts a comparative static analysis on important parameters such as the weight coefficients of environmental protection objectives and consumers'awareness of low-carbon environmental protection and attains some beneficial enlightenment on management.The results indicate that when the environmental protection objectives of a certain type of enterprise increases,both the economic benefits and environmental protection performance will improve;when the environmental protection objectives of all enterprises increases simultaneously,environmental protection performance improves significantly,but the changes in economic benefits of different enterprises are inconsistent and profit coordination is more complex.Although consumers’awareness of low-carbon preference could improve environmental performance,it reduces the overall profits of network members and the entire closed-loop supply chain network as a whole.The above conclusions can be used as a reference for the government in designing low-carbon environmental protection policy and in closed-loop supply chain research.

Improving the Performance of Urban Waste Management Systems in the Context of a Closed-Loop Supply Chain

The saving of non-renewable energies, as well as the reduction of emissions into the environment, are two crucial objectives of industrial production. The recovery of post-consumer products associated with the use of end-of-life products is part of a context of optimization of these objectives. This recovery maximizes the use of resources from end-of-life products in a circular logic while recording the environmental footprint. This study considers a recycling strategy adapted to the need and urgency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by global warming. The proposed model aims to optimize the profits of the circular manufacturing strategies while minimizing operational costs (collection, sorting, recycling), transport, GHG emissions and recycling. In this paper, a compromise between the gains of CM and the costs associated with it was studied. The robustness of the designed model was tested using a case study based on real-world scenarios. A sensitivity analysis was carried out to study the impact of the emission cost on the overall objective, considering the two options currently offered to industries. The obtained results support companies to take the ecological aspect into account and integrate sustainable development into their strategic axes for their logistics supply chains.

Dynamic Pricing Model for the Operation of Closed-Loop Supply Chain System

A class of closed-loop supply chain system consisting of one manufacturer and one supplier is designed, in which re-distribution, remanufacturing and reuse are considered synthetically. The manufacturer is in charge of recollecting and re-disposal the used products. Demands of ultimate products and collecting quantity of used products are described as the function of prices and reference prices. A non-linear dynamic pricing model for this closed-loop supply chain is established. A numerical example is designed, and the results of this example verified the model’s validity to price for the operation of closed-loop supply chain system.

Literature Review on Network Design Problems in Closed Loop and Reverse Supply Chains

The productivity of an organization is very much affected by non-value adding activity like logistics, which moves the resources from suppliers to factory, raw materials/semi-finished items within the factory and finished goods from factory to customers via a designated distribution channel called as forward logistics. In some cases, parts of the products such as automobiles, computers, cameras, mobile phones, washing machines, refrigerators, garments, footwear and empty glass bottles of beverages, etc. will be brought back to the factories as a product recovery strategy through reverse logistics network which is integrated in a sustainable closed loop supply chain network. So, it is highly essential to optimize the movement of the items in the reverse logistics network. This paper gives a comprehensive review of literature of the design of networks for the reverse logistics as well as for the reverse logistics coupled with forward logistics. The contributions of the researchers are classified into nine categories based on the methods used to design the logistics network.

Pricing and production strategies in remanufacturing from the perspectives of supply chain: Review and future directions

Remanufacturing is widely recognized as beneficial to the environment and a circular economy. However, remanufacturing is more complex than traditional manufacturing due to the effects of government policy, uncertainty of consumer preferences, competition and cooperation among firms, and so on. These factors motivate academics to optimize remanufacturing outcomes, especially for product pricing and production. This study reviews the published literature on pricing and production strategies in remanufacturing from four perspectives of supply chain, namely, government policy, consumer characteristics, relationships among firms, and supply chain structures. Review results can benefit scholars/practitioners in the future by highlighting the challenges and opportunities in remanufacturing strategies.

Pricing Decisions in Dual-Channel Closed-Loop Supply Chain Under Retailer’s Risk Aversion and Fairness Concerns

This paper studies the price decisions in a dual-channel closed-loop supply chain with a risk-averse retailer and a risk-neutral manufacturer by modeling and analyzing three cases:(1)the retailer does not have fairness concerns;(2)the retailer has fairness concerns and the manufacturer considers it;and(3)the retailer has fairness concerns and the manufacturer does not consider it.The effects of risk aversion and fairness concerns on the pricing decisions,profits and demand are examined in differing scenarios.

Closed-loop Supply Chain Based Battery Swapping and Charging System Operation: A Hierarchy Game Approach

To realize optimal day-ahead operation of battery swapping and charging systems(BSCSs),a closed loop supply chain(CLSC)based management scheme is proposed,where the game theory is adopted for benefits allocation.The CLSC is used to depict the battery-swapping-charging process between the battery charging stations(BCSs)and battery swapping stations(BSSs).The arrival,departure and swapping service of electric vehicles(EVs)at BSSs is modeled as distinct queues based on the network calculus theory.The depleted batteries(DBs)and well-charging batteries(WBs)based interaction among BCSs and BSSs is formulated as a Stackelberg game.In the game,one BCS acts as the leader and the BSSs act as the followers.The BCS sets optimized prices to maximize its utility and the BSSs optimally demand WBs,supply DBs and provide battery swapping services to maximize their own utilities while guaranteeing the quality of service(QoS)needed for battery swapping.The existence of Stackelberg equilibriums(SEs)of the proposed game is proved.A differential evaluation based hybrid algorithm is proposed to compute an SE.The effectiveness of proposed method has been demonstrated by the simulation results,guaranteeing the QoS and balancing benefits among the BCS and BSSs while maximizing social welfare.

Carbon Quotas,Subsidies and Engineering Machinery Remanufacturing

Engineering machinery manufacturing and remanufacturing are significant sources of greenhouse gases.In the context of emission reduction and resource recovery,the authors analyze the impact of current carbon quota allocations and government subsidies policies on manufacturers' profits and recovery rates in a closed-loop supply chain.A simplified model consists of two manufacturers,one retailer and a third-party recycler.The study found that carbon quotas and government subsidies can both promote the improvement of recovery rates under certain conditions,and have similar effects in regulating interest distribution between manufacturers.The combination of the two methods can effectively realize the targets of recycling and carbon emissions reduction.

Optimal Grading Policies in the Online Acquisition of Used Products

Although online reverse commerce(recommerce)is convenient and efficient,it is not without caveats.It limits recommerce firms’flexibility to offer personalized prices and may cause mismatched grading between the firms and sellers of used products.This study examines a recommerce firm’s decision on grading criteria and prices.We find that the firm’s optimal policy exhibits two distinctly different patterns depending on the trade value of the product.We demonstrate that sellers’overestimate and underestimate errors have qualitatively different effects on firm profitability,and the effects crucially rely on the type of optimal policy.These findings can apprise firms on how to preset sorting criteria and prices as well as reduce grading errors.

Managing Sales Channel Selection for a Manufacturer in the Presence of Remanufacturing

Motivated by the fact that the product remanufacturing operations are increasingly performed as firms,competitive advantage and may also play an important role in the choice of channel structure,we construct game-theoretical models to examine the manufacturer's optimal sales channel strategy in a closed-loop supply chain(CLSC),in which the manufacturer is responsible for used product recycling and remanufacturing and the retailer operates a traditional retail channel.We show that the manufacturer's optimal sales channel selection depends on the customers7 acceptance of the direct channel and the remanufacturing efficiency.Specifically,in the centralized system,the manufacturer would prefer the dual-channel strategy rather than either the exclusive direct or retail channel,and becomes more willing to introduce a direct channel as the remanufacturing cost savings increase.However,in a decentralized system,there exists a Pareto improvement zone where both the manufacturer and the retailer are better off in the dual-channel format,and the increasing remanufacturing efficiency spills over to the retailer via a lower wholesale price and thus a higher retail demand.Moreover,we extend the study to the retailer-collecting mode and demonstrate that the main results of the original model remain robust.

Recycling decision,fairness concern and coordination mechanism in EC-CLSC

Taking the e-commerce platform’s fairness concern into account,three decision-making models of e-commerce closed-loop supply chain are constructed.Then,the recycling decisions under three models are studied and the impact of fairness concern is analysed.The‘effort costs sharing contract’is proposed to realise the coordination of the supply chain.Finally,the conclusions are verified by numerical analysis.The results show that the e-commerce platform’s fairness concern reduces own profit and the remanufacturer’s profit,and decreases system efficiency.The‘effort costs sharing contract’can realise the centralised model where recycling price of waste products is the highest,commission is the lowest,and system profit is the highest.In the coordinated system,the higher the proportion of remanufacturer sharing effort costs,the higher the profit of remanufacturer.