With the increasing innovation of new electronic devices continually entering the marketplace, manufacturers and retailers are seeking partnerships with third party logistics (3PL) providers that can decrease e-waste through reverse logistics for end-of-life devices. With the general public’s sentiment to preserve the environment for future generations, manufacturers and retailers as well as th...

In this paper we extend and apply MRP theory towards reverse logistics including the considerations of transportation consequences. Our aim is to demonstrate the versatility obtained from using MRP theory when combining Input–Output Analysis and Laplace transforms. This enables an analysis of a supply chain including four sub-systems, namely manufacturing, distribution, consumption and reverse ...

Infrastructure modelling is a strategic level activity to make one or more decisions on the optimum location, number and allocation of service providers. This problem has been intensively researched in academic literature and traditionally focuses on minimizing total logistics costs or maximizing profit. But in many cases the optimum may involve dealing with multiple and sometimes conflicting o...

In the late 1960s the US Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) engaged in an unparalleled, real-time computer networking project to manage all its logistics (location, inventory, maintenance, and transportation of personnel, aircraft, weapons, components, spare parts, etc.), the Advanced Logistics System (ALS). The $250 million ALS project was substantially larger in size and cost than earlier rea...

A reverse logistics system is a network of transportation logistics and processing functions that collect, consolidate, refurbish, and demanufacture end-of-life products. This paper examines centralized and decentralized models of decision-making for material flows and associated transaction prices in reverse logistics networks. We compare the application of a centralized model for planning rev...