Returns Management for Time-sensitive Products: What is the Value of RFID and Sensor Technologies?

This contribution concerns itself with the value of RFID and sensor technologies to reverse logistics processes. Our research is motivated by the question, to what extent the accuracy of information on product quality delivered by such technologies impacts the total recovered value companies obtain from returned goods in an industry with time-sensitive products. For this purpose, we first present a case study to examine the returns management process at a manufacturer of high-tech consumer electronics. We then develop an analytical model to study the monetary benefits in a scenario with RFID-enabled product disposition. Our results first show that RFID allows for a redesign of the return process which performs more efficiently regarding total recovered value depending on technology costs (i.e. tag costs) and capabilities (i.e. sufficient sensor-delivered parameters to rightly infer the product quality). Second, our results indicate that maximum benefits can be drawn with lower accuracy but early decision on the disposition option

Review and improvement of reverse logistics in an electronics company

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-50).InFocus is a worldwide leader in the digital display market. Despite its success in sales, the company posted a net loss in profit in year 2005. The major reasons are its high operating cost and high inventory level. After reviewing its reverse logistics system, we found that current policy to process the returned product does not reap the maximum amount of profit from returns. We proposed to add a new channel to process the product returns. An optimum inventory policy was also developed to maximize the profit. An alternative distribution channel of the service parts was suggested which can cut down the inventory level and reduce the operating cost.by Yi Wu.M.Eng

Moving forward in reverse : a review into strategic decision making in reverse logistics

Reverse Logistics, the process of managing the backward flows of materials from a point of use to a point of recovery or proper disposal, has gained increased industry acceptance as a strategy for both competitive advantage and sustainable development. This has stimulated a growing number of researchers to investigate Strategic management issues relating to the set up and control of effective and efficient Reverse Logistics systems. This paper systematically reviews the most important works in this field, with a focus on papers that concentrate on the strategic decision making process involved in the design and operation of a Reverse Logistics process with remanufacturing. The review found that: the majority of work is primarily focused on OEM specific issues; the sectors receiving the most attention are the ones under the greatest pressure from environmental legislation; and previous research findings from Rubio et al. (2009) and Fleischmann et al. (2000) are reaffirmed that the Reverse Logistics field is growing, but characterised by mainly quantitative, mathematical models. Future research efforts should be focused on the empirical investigation of the Reverse Logistics design process for all types of remanufacturers

Strategic grading in the product acquisition process of a reverse supply chain

Most recommerce providers have moved to a quality-dependent process for the acquisition of used products. They acquire the products via websites at which product holders submit upfront quality statements and receive quality-dependent acquisition prices for their used devices. Motivated by this development of reverse logistics practice, the aim of this paper is to analyse the product assessment process of a recommerce provider in detail. To this end, we first propose a sequential bargaining model with complete information which captures the individual behaviour of the recommerce provider and the product holder. We determine the optimal strategies of the product holder and the recommerce provider in this game. We find that the resulting strategies lead to an efficient allocation, although the recommerce provider can absorb most of the bargaining potential due to his last mover advantage. In a second step, we relax the assumption of complete information and include uncertainty about the product holder's residual product value. We show the trade-off underlying the recommerce provider's optimal counteroffer decision and analyse the optimal strategy, using a logistic regression approach on a real-life data set of nearly 60,000 product submissions. The results reveal a significant improvement potential, compared to the currently applied strategy

Managing high-end ex-demonstration product returns

Some manufacturers demonstrate their products so that customers can gain experience before making a purchase. We present a novel application of a closed-loop supply chain where product returns from demonstrations of high-end IT equipment are substantial and the major delay in the system is due to the long demonstration time at the client sites. In addition, the product lifecycle is short and the value erodes rapidly over time, with steep drops in the resale revenue when new product generations are introduced. We present a finite lifecycle model that captures the key trade-offs in this environment, that is, either to reuse a collected ex-demo product for a next demonstration or to salvage its residual value in the secondary market and use a new product to satisfy the next demo request. We derive two cost/revenue signals that enable us to distinguish between fast and slow value erosion. We show that the fast/slow erosion decision is dynamic and depends on the rate of value erosion and the length of the demonstration time. We analyze the optimal demo pool strategies and show that in the case of fast erosion it may be better to postpone reuse activities until later in the lifecycle. We illustrate our model using empirical data from a large IT manufacturer and formulate several guidelines so as to better manage high value ex-demonstration product returns

A decision system for routing returned product to the optimal recovery channel

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-63).Dell, a leading computer manufacturer, must deal with systems returned from its customers. Historically, it has refurbished most of its returned systems for resale on its Dell Outlet website. While this has provided high net recoveries (revenue less incurred costs) compared to its peers, Dell believes there is ample opportunity in cannibalizing some returned systems for the piece parts (i.e. "teardown"). These harvested piece parts can be used to service field systems, repair refurbished systems, or directly sold to customers as spare parts. Dell is concerned about ensuring an optimal disposition of system to teardown vs. direct resale. Written as part of research internship at Dell, this paper proposes, simulates, and evaluates a decision support system to address the question of disposition. The decision engines use historical data and statistics to estimate net recoveries in resale and forecasted demand to estimate net recoveries through teardown. Linear regressions were found to have poor power in predicting overall net recoveries; however, simple heuristics were found to identify likely low recovery systems. Overall, the implementation of the decision support system will drive improved net recoveries, with savings estimated to be greater than $1 million annually.by Christopher C. Lin.S.M.M.B.A

SunTrust Portfolio Recommendations: Crummer Investment Management [2012]

The primary difference between this and last year is that the markets appear to support the recovery. Last year market performance lagged behind the nascent recovery. Eventually headwinds from Greece and the developing world caused a flight to quality that suppressed market activity even as the US economy grew slowly. This year we are looking at a significantly more confident capital market. Some of the fears stemming from the European debt crisis have abated. Employment has stabilized significantly. The market has spent the better part of 2012 growing with renewed confidence. Moreover, the growth has resembled a classic recovery, with highly cyclical sectors taking the lead. Based on our confidence in the new market we have opted to maintain our recovery‐oriented sector allocation, while keeping within the boundaries if the ISP. We are recommending that the portfolio tilt its allocation in favor of cyclical sectors such as consumer discretionary, while shifting away from counter cyclical sectors such as telecommunications. By doing so, we should be able to take advantage of the market growth of the recovery