Design of Closed Loop Supply Chains

Increased concern for the environment has lead to new techniques to design products and supply chains that are both economically and ecologically feasible. This paper deals with the product - and corresponding supply chain design for a refrigerator. Literature study shows that there are many models to support product design and logistics separately, but not in an integrated way. In our research we develop quantitative modelling to support an optimal design structure of a product, i.e. modularity, repairability, recyclability, as well as the optimal locations and goods flows allocation in the logistics system. Environmental impacts are measured by energy and waste. Economic costs are modelled as linear functions of volumes with a fixed set-up component for facilities. We apply this model using real life R&D data of a Japanese consumer electronics company. The model is run for different scenarios using different parameter settings such as centralised versus decentralised logistics, alternative product designs, varying return quality and quantity, and potential environmental legislation based on producer responsibility.supply chain management;reverse logistics;facility location;network design;product design

Sustainable operations of industrial symbiosis: an enterprise input-output model integrated by agent-based simulation

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is a key for implementing circular economy. Through IS, wastes produced by one company are used as inputs by other companies. The operations of IS suffers from uncertainty barriers since wastes are not produced upon demand but emerge as secondary outputs. Such an uncertainty, triggered by waste supply-demand quantity mismatch, influences IS business dynamics. Accordingly, companies have difficulty to foresee potential costs and benefits of implementing IS. The paper adopts an enterprise input-output model providing a cost–benefit analysis of IS integrated to an agent-based model to simulate how companies share the total economic benefits stemming from IS. The proposed model allows to explore the space of cooperation, defined as the operationally favourable conditions to operate IS in an economically win-win manner. This approach, as a decision-support tool, allows the user to understand whether the IS relationship is created and how should the cost-sharing policy be. The proposed model is applied to a numerical example. Findings show that cost-sharing strategies are dramatically affected by waste supply-demand mismatch and by the relationship between saved and additional costs to run IS. Apart from methodological and theoretical contributions, the paper proposes managerial and practical implications for business strategy development in IS

An Agenda for Energy and Material Efficiency Policy – An Element of Technology Policy for a More Sustainable Use of Natural Resources

Discussions about the future options of the energy systems of industrialised countries are held almost exclusively in terms of alternative resources of energy supply and related technologies. This paper tries to broaden the view of the technological options by focusing on the technical and theoretical potentials of a more efficient use of energy and materials. Such options are generally overlooked since a more efficient use of energy resources tends to be assessed by its economic potential. This analysis starts from the basic human needs of an industrialised country which lead to the material and energy services that influence energy-related drivers. The analysis of the energy system's losses, from useful energy to final and primary energy and the analysis of a more efficient use of materials hint at huge technical and theoretical potentials for more efficient use of energy. This new agenda of the technology-based research of resource efficiency is labelled as the vision of the 2000 Watt per capita society. It may not only influence energy and material research and policy agendas, but also transform the present rather narrow-minded understanding of energy policy into a resource efficiency concept as part of an innovation policy oriented towards sustainable development. From this perspective, suggestions are made to extend the R&D energy and material policy agendas.Innovation policy, energy efficiency policy, material efficiency, R&D energy policy

WoodCircus, Underpinning the vital role of the forest-based sector in the Circular Bioeconomy. D2.2 Resource Efficiency, Side Streams and Value Chain Analysis – WP2 Final Report

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