A Consideration of a Reverse Logistics Network Over a Wider Area

Abstract

Regarding the lifecycle of wastes/valuable materials, the efficiency of a strategic flow, including collection, transportation, intermediate treatment, and final disposal/recycle is expected to improve from the viewpoint of environmental symbiosis. A forward logistics network is constructed mainly of physical distribution enterprises. In the case of reverse logistics, however, collection, transportation, and intermediate treatment enterprises, elements that are not involved in forward logistics play the main roles in the network’s construction. Industrial wastes discharged from factories or similar facilities are collected and transported to intermediate treatment facilities for recycling. Therefore, a network that covers forward and reverse logistics is difficult to construct. Moreover, although the efficiency of forward logistics has greatly improved recently, no noteworthy progress has been seen in the efficiency of reverse logistics, even though there are several differences in the characteristics and constraint conditions between forward and reverse logistics. In this chapter, the possibility of constructing a reverse logistics network over a wide area is examined. As the example for this study, the chapter analyzes the current issues and to propose an effective reverse logistics system for used personal computers. An effective system to collect used personal computers over a wide area with a correct time window is required. The computer simulation includes a collection system algorithm with cluster-first/route-second method and local search method. This procedure consists of three factors. The first is the collection of used personal computers and their transportation to the logistics centers. The second is the improvement of the actual reverse logistics system for used personal computers. The final factor is the design of the improved reverse logistical system. This chapter clearly points out the importance of collection of used personal computers over a wide area with a correct time window with a numerical experiment.