A Closed-loop Supply Chain Inventory Model Considering Limited Number of Remanufacturing Generation and Environmental Investigation

Abstract

This study presents a mathematical inventory model in the Closed-loop Supply Chain (CLSC) system. We investigate a CLSC system that consists of a retailer, a manufacturer and a 3rd party collection dealer. The model aims to minimize the annual joint total inventory cost for the three parties and determine several decision variables, including number of shipments, manufacturer shipment lot size and number of remanufacturing generations. The number of remanufacturing generations is one of our concerns since we consider a type of product that could not be remanufactured in an unlimited number of time. Thus, how many times the product should be remanufactured becomes important. In this study, we also investigate the environmental impacts in term of carbon emissions, energy usage, as well as annual disposed items. The model can guide companies in the related industry to plan a system of CLSC inventory management with environmental considerations.