AN ANALYSIS OF REVERSE DISTRIBUTION FROM A LOGISTICS PERSPECTIVE (PRODUCT RECALL)

Logistics, which encompasses a number of interrelated functions (e.g., transportation, warehousing), has for the most part, concentrated on the forward (producer to consumer) movement of goods. Reverse distribution--the movement of products back toward the manufacturer in a channel of distribution--represents a potentially fruitful, but largely unresearched, logistics topic.; Reverse distribution may arise due to customer initiative (voluntary returns), government initiative (product recall) or industry initiative (recycling). While the logistics implications of all three have gone unstudied, the focus of this research will be on the reverse distribution associated with product recalls.; The literature search revealed that most research on product recalls has been conducted from a marketing perspective. While some of the marketing issues may be relevant to logistics (e.g., what are the objectives in a recall?), the existing research rarely approaches product recall from a logistics perspective.; Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to explore some of the traffic and distribution implications of reverse distribution, as applied to product recall. Some of the questions investigated in this research were: (1) What are the monetary costs of a recall? (2) What forms of transportation are used in the various stages of a recall? (3) What types of warehousing are used in a recall?; A questionnaire survey, using both mail and telephone, was sent to 200 firms, as identified by the Food and Drug Administration's Weekly Enforcement Report. The questionnaire generated 54 responses, for an effective response rate of 28.4 percent; the results of the questionnaire were studied using summary statistics, crosstabs and discriminant analysis.; The summary information suggests that around 80 percent of the companies have both recall policies and procedures. In addition, safety appears as the most prevalent primary recall objective, while costs assume a secondary importance. Truck transportation seems to be the preferred mode of transportation in a product recall. Private warehousing is the most popular form of warehousing for a recall.; With respect to the crosstabs and discriminant analysis, the effect of firm size on other study variables would appear to be worthy of further study. There are indications that firm size may be related to warehousing patterns and transportation usage. For instance, both crosstabs and discriminant analysis suggested a relationship between firm size and TL truck to final destination.