Reverse Logistics System Recycling Network Planning Studies

The research of this thesis is focused on a new field in logistics: product recovery and re-use network programming of reverse logistics system.In 1980s,the word of reverse logistics appeared in an oversea journal.ln the early of 1990s,reverse logistics was beginning to be widely concerned by some developed countries as the government and consumers were more attached importance to environment.China had paid more attention to forward logistics, but there is little concern about reverse logistics.As China entered WTO, Chinese companies will be confronted with fierce competition.lt is necessary for Chinese companies to set up the product recovery and re-use network.Based on the previous researches and practices,the paper introduces the reverse logistics.Then the paper analysises reverse logistics system,product recovery process and method,the principle of network programming,network structure ,network characteristic and kinds.The paper addresses the research of product recovery and re-use network programming. According to the network structure.the networks can be divided into two kinds: open-loop network and closed-loop network.The open-loop network is applied to recycling ; while the closed-loop network is applied to directly re-use,remanufacturing and commercial returns.This thesis presents solutions to open-loop network designing based on the traditional designing for logistics facility location and capacity allocation model and combined with speciality of reverse logistics. An optimization model is replied on non-linear programming and the objective is to minimize the sum of investment and operation costs of logistics facilities as well as transportation and environment protection costs of returned products among the facilities. To explain the method for the network of facility location and capacity allocation by the model, an example is presented.Based on forward logistics network,the topology of closed-loop network is analyzed.An optimization model replying on mixed integer linear programming (MILP) is set up for designing closed-loop reverse logistics network.The objective also is to minimize the sum of investment and operation costs of facilities as wellas transportation costs of returned products among the facilities.And the end of the chapter also analysises an example.The last draw the conclusion of this thesis and propose the future research of product recovery and re-use network programming.