Re-ordering policies for inventory systems with recyclable items and stochastic demand – Outsourcing vs. in-house recycling

Bassam K. Hallak, Walid W. Nasr and Mohamad Y. Jaber

Omega, 2021, vol. 105, issue C

Abstract: Investing in recoverable items is an increasing trend in a variety of manufacturing industries. Such industries seek to balance their supply chain costs while reducing solid waste (non-biodegradable). Our work develops mathematical models of inventory systems that rely on newly manufactured and recoverable items to satisfy market demand. Specifically, we consider continuous (r, Q) re-ordering policies for single-item inventory systems with stochastic demand and recycling. The first model assumes outsourcing the recovery of used items to a supplier, where returns (collected used items) arrive in random quantities with every order. The second model assumes performing the recovery process in-house; i.e., at the manufacturer's facility. The proposed mathematical framework considers an infinite time horizon where demand and the amount recovered are stochastic. This work focuses on developing environmentally responsible inventory policies/models that could help in greening supply chains. It also presents a numerical study to compare the proposed models and quantify the trade-off cost between the two; i.e., should the recovery process be in-house or outsourced.

Keywords: Inventory; Stochastic; Reverse logistics; Production; Recycling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305048321001237
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jomega:v:105:y:2021:i:c:s0305048321001237

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.omega.2021.102514

Access Statistics for this article

Omega is currently edited by B. Lev

More articles in Omega from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().