Promising Areas for Future Research on Reverse Logistics: an exploratory study

During the early nineties, the Council of Logistics Management started publishing studieswhere Reverse Logistics was recognized as being relevant both for business and society (Stock,1992). Other studies followed stressing the opportunities on reuse and recycling (Kopicki etal., 1993), discussing marketing aspects (Kostecki, 1998) and reported on the U.S. experience(Rogers and Tibben-Lembke, 1999). In Europe, an inter-university EU sponsored projectcalled RevLog had served as one of the motors for European Research on Reverse Logistics.For the last 5 years, researchers associated with RevLog have co-authored more than 100papers on the subject (see Dekker et al., 2003). Very recently, the RevLog group organizeda meeting to identify ?Promising Areas for Future Research on Reverse Logistics.? In thispaper we report the outcome of such meeting.reverse logistics;exploratory study;future;nominal group technique

Reverse logistics - a framework

In this paper we define and compare Reverse Logistics definitions. We start by giving an understanding framework of Reverse Logistics: the why-what-how. By this means, we put in context the driving forces for Reverse Logistics, a typology of return reasons, a classification of products, processes and actors. In addition we provide a decision framework for Reverse Logistics and we present it according to long, medium and short term decisions, i.e. strategic-tactic-operational decisions.Framework;Decision-making;Reverse logistics;Theory building

A Framework for Reverse Logistics

Reverse Logistics has been stretching out worldwide, involving all the layers of supply chains in various industry sectors. While some actors in the chain have been forced to take products back, others have pro-actively done so, attracted by the value in used products One way or the other, Reverse Logistics has become a key competence in modern supply chains. In this paper, we present a content analysis of reverse logistics issues. To do so, we propose a content framework focusing on the following questions with respect to reverse logistics: why? what? how?; and, who?, i.e. driving forces and return reasons, what type of products are streaming back, how are they being recovered, and who is executing and managing the various operations. These four basic characteristics are interrelated and their combination determines to a large extent the type of issues arising from the resulting reverse logistics system.supply chain management;reverse logistics;content analysis;theory;framework

Product Return Handling

In this article we focus on product return handling and warehousingissues. In some businesses return rates can be well over 20% andreturns can be especially costly when not handled properly. In spiteof this, many managers have handled returns extemporarily. The factthat quantitative methods barely exist to support return handlingdecisions adds to this. In this article we bridge those issues by 1)going over the key decisions related with return handling; 2)identifying quantitative models to support those decisions.Furthermore, we provide insights on directions for future research.reverse logistics;decision-making;quantitative models;retailing and warehousing

Inventory control with product returns: the impact of (mis)information

Product returns are often characterized by a dual uncertainty on time and quantity. In the literature on inventory management with product returns, best forecasts have been associated with methods that use the most informationregarding product return history.In practice however, data is often scarce and unreliable. In this paper we investigate the impact of (mis)information on inventory performance. An exact analysis shows that in case ofmisestimation the most informed method does not necessarily lead to best performance. Further we provide an extensive simulation study to investigate the impact of misinformation w.r.t. inventory costs.This has relevant implications regarding the investments to make on product return information systems.Forecasting;Inventory control;Product returns;Information management

Inventory Management with product returns: the value of information

This paper evaluates the impact of misinformation for inventory systems with product returns. Ifone could exactly know how much is going to be returned and when, one would certainly benefitfrom incorporating this perfect information a priori in the management of production, inventory,and distribution. In practice, one has to attempt to forecast the timing and the amount of productreturns, by hypothesizing about the return flow properties. To do so, historic data on demandand returns can be used. The available literature on information and inventory managementwith product returns commonly 1) assumes known return probabilities; or 2) considers specificcases where the most informed method does not necessarily lead to the best performance,investigating the impact on inventory related costs.product returns;forecasting;information management;inventory management

Promising Areas for Future Research on Reverse Logistics: an exploratory study

During the early nineties, the Council of Logistics Management started publishing studies where Reverse Logistics was recognized as being relevant both for business and society (Stock, 1992). Other studies followed stressing the opportunities on reuse and recycling (Kopicki et al., 1993), discussing marketing aspects (Kostecki, 1998) and reported on the U.S. experience (Rogers and Tibben-Lembke, 1999). In Europe, an inter-university EU sponsored project called RevLog had served as one of the motors for European Research on Reverse Logistics. For the last 5 years, researchers associated with RevLog have co-authored more than 100 papers on the subject (see Dekker et al., 2003). Very recently, the RevLog group organized a meeting to identify ?Promising Areas for Future Research on Reverse Logistics.? In this paper we report the outcome of such meeting

How to organise return handling; an exploratory study with nine retailer warehouses

Already for a long time retailers take back products. In this paper we explore the factors contributing to the decision of combining vs. separating inbound and outbound flows during the return handling process. We do so through a comparative analysis of the operations in nine retailer warehouses, which can be divided in three groups: food retailers, department stores and mail order companies. We identify both aggravating factors and facilitating actions for return handling. Furthermore, we bring about recommendations for practice. At the end we put forward propositions that are useful in feeding studies on return handling efficiency. In particular, we conjecture over the impact that return volume and product diversity have on the decision for combining vs. separating the reverse and forward flows.Case studies;Retailing;Inbound and outbound flows;Product returns;Return handling

How to Organise Return Handling

Already for a long time retailers take back products. In this paper we explore the factors contributing to the decision of combining vs. separating inbound and outbound flows during the return handling process. We do so through a comparative analysis of the operations in nine retailer warehouses, which can be divided in three groups: food retailers, department stores and mail order companies. We identify both aggravating factors and facilitating actions for return handling. Furthermore, we bring about recommendations for practice. At the end we put forward propositions that are useful in feeding studies on return handling efficiency. In particular, we conjecture over the impact that return volume and product diversity have on the decision for combining vs. separating the reverse and forward flows.product returns;case studies;Retailing;inbound and outbound flows;return handling

Extended Producer Responsibility in the Aviation Sector

In this paper we investigate recent initiatives with respect to extended producer responsibility in the aviation sector. We compare those with the existing practices in the automobile sector and the emerging regulations in the shipping sector. We describe the challenges and the lessons to be learned from the evolution and state of extended producer responsibility in these two industries.End-of-life aircraft;Environmental legislation;Extended producer responsibility