Integrated Procurement-Disassembly Problem

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel problem called integrated pro- curement-disassembly problem. The problem combines vehicle routing problem and disassembly line balancing problem for collecting and dis- assembling End-of-Life (EOL) products, respectively. The integration of those problems is motivated by the necessity to reduce total cost in reverse supply chain context. After collecting the EOL products from suppliers, the disassembly process begins to release the demanded parts. The objective function aims to minimize the total cost consisting product collection and opening disassembly workstations. The constraints consider vehicle routing problem to supply the disassembly line with EOL products, disassembly line and balancing inventory coordinating those problems. The decision variables include trips sequences associated to collect the products, disassembly task assignment into workstations, and the inventory level. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2014.