Devika Kannan

Reverse logistics and closed-loop supply chain: A comprehensive review to explore the future

Based on environmental, legal, social, and economic factors, reverse logistics and closed-loop supply chain issues have attracted attention among both academia and practitioners. This attention is evident by the vast number of publications in scientific journals which have been published in recent years. Hence, a comprehensive literature review of recent and state-of-the-art papers is vital to draw a framework of the past, and to shed light on future directions. The aim of this paper is to review recently published papers in reverse logistic and closed-loop supply chain in scientific journals. A total of 382 papers published between January 2007 and March 2013 are selected and reviewed. The papers are then analyzed and categorized to construct a useful foundation of past research. Finally, gaps in the literature are identified to clarify and to suggest future research opportunities.

Selecting green suppliers based on GSCM practices: Using Fuzzy TOPSIS applied to a Brazilian electronics company

Due to an increased awareness and significant environmental pressures from various stakeholders, companies have begun to realize the significance of incorporating green practices into their daily activities. This paper proposes a framework using Fuzzy TOPSIS to select green suppliers for a Brazilian electronics company; our framework is built on the criteria of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices. An empirical analysis is made, and the data are collected from a set of 12 available suppliers. We use a fuzzy TOPSIS approach to rank the suppliers, and the results of the proposed framework are compared with the ranks obtained by both the geometric mean and the graded mean methods of fuzzy TOPSIS methodology. Then a Spearman rank correlation coefficient is used to find the statistical difference between the ranks obtained by the three methods. Finally, a sensitivity analysis has been performed to examine the influence of the preferences given by the decision makers for the chosen GSCM practices on the selection of green suppliers. Results indicate that the four dominant criteria are Commitment of senior management to GSCM; Product designs that reduce, reuse, recycle, or reclaim materials, components, or energy; Compliance with legal environmental requirements and auditing programs; and Product designs that avoid or reduce toxic or hazardous material use.

Analyzing supplier development criteria for an automobile industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an approach to identify and rank the criteria used for the supplier development using interpretative structural modeling (ISM).Design/methodology/approach – The paper develops a framework to analyze the interactions among the criteria such as competitive pressure, evaluation and certification system, incentives, supplier development programs, inter‐organizational communication, buyer‐supplier relationship, supplier commitment, supplier performance, asset specificity, joint action, trust, long‐term strategic goals, top management support, purchasing performance, and supplier strategic objective for the supplier development using ISM. The developed framework is illustrated using a case study taken in an automobile firm.Findings – The paper contributes to research in supply chain management (SCM) and particularly in supplier development. Research in the area of SCM has intensified in recent years for a number of reasons. Managers have now realized that action...

Evaluation of green manufacturing practices using a hybrid MCDM model combining DANP with PROMETHEE

The advent of increasing industrialisation and globalisation has put pressure on Indian enterprises to increase the integration of environmentally conscious manufacturing practices into their operations. Numerous studies have explored this strategy but there are significant gaps in the existing literature, particularly in environmental practices specific to India. In this connection, there is a need to explore green manufacturing practices (GMP) in an Indian context. The purpose of this article is to select the best GMP based on dimensions and relevant criteria with the assistance of a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making model combining DEMATEL based on ANP (DANP) with Preference Ranking Organisation METHod for Enrichment Evaluations. A methodological framework is proposed to evaluate GMP and the same is validated within a particular single case industry situated in the southern part of India, who is the leading manufacturer of rubber tyres and tubes. By virtue of these findings, industries can identify the best GM practice to adopt in order to increase the chances of profit and performance throughout their systems. This study concludes by successfully identifying the best GM practice for this case industry, and it provides some important managerial implications. This research explores some future trends to make the study more reliable in changing real life scenarios.

Analysing green supply chain management practices in Brazil’s electrical/electronics industry using interpretive structural modelling

Industries need to adopt the environmental management concepts in the traditional supply chain management. The green supply chain management (GSCM) is an established concept to ensure environment-friendly activities in industry. This paper identifies the relationship of driving and dependence that exists between GSCM practices with regard to their adoption within Brazilian electrical/electronic industry with the help of interpretive structural modelling (ISM). From the results, we infer that cooperation with customers for eco-design practice is driving other practices, and this practice acts as a vital role among other practices. Commitment to GSCM from senior managers and cooperation with customers for cleaner production occupy the highest level.

Factors affecting the adoption of green supply chain management practices in Brazil: Empirical evidence

The aim of this study is to identify and analyse the factors that affect the adoption of Green Supply Chain Management practices based on empirical evidence from the Brazilian electronics sector. Data are collected in a survey of 100 electronics companies and analysed using statistical analysis of variance and regression methods. The study finds that the size of the company, previous experience with Environmental Management Systems, and the use of hazardous inputs are positively correlated with GSCM practices adoption. Surprisingly, formal pressure from the stronger tier/player in the supply chain is not correlated with the adoption of GSCM practices. Finally, we present some explanations for these findings and suggestions for future research.

A robust optimization model for agile and build-to-order supply chain planning under uncertainties

Supply chain planning as one of the most important processes within the supply chain management concept, has a great impact on firms’ success or failure. This paper considers a supply chain planning problem of an agile manufacturing company operating in a build-to-order environment under various kinds of uncertainty. An integrated optimization approach of procurement, production and distribution costs associated with the supply chain members has been taken into account. A robust optimization scenario-based approach is used to absorb the influence of uncertain parameters and variables. The formulation is a robust optimization model with the objective of minimizing the expected total supply chain cost while maintaining customer service level. The developed multi-product, multi-period, multi-echelon robust mixed-integer linear programming model is then solved using the CPLEX optimization studio and guidance related to future areas of research is given.

Barriers to the adoption of green operational practices at Brazilian companies: effects on green and operational performance

The objective of this paper is to verify to what degree the internal and external barriers (I/EBs) to environmental management affect the adoption of green operational practices (GOPs) and to determine whether they influence the firms’ operational and green performance in a sample of Brazilian companies. A conceptual framework with 8 hypotheses is proposed and tested at 75 companies using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with WarpPLS 4.0. The main results show that (a) the proposed framework obtained an adequate statistical adjustment, (b) the internal barriers (IBs) are more significant than the EBs when adopting GOPs, (c) GOPs relate directly to the firms’ green and operational performance (OP), (d) the IBs also indirectly influence the firms’ green and OP and (e) the firm size does not significantly influence its green and OP. This work contributes to the literature by showing that companies which are looking for green competitive advantages should try to reduce their IBs. Also, policy-makers should pay attention not only to legislation that promotes ecological modernisation, but also to create a strong set of initiatives to overcome IBs, regardless of the size of the firms.

Integrating disassembly line balancing in the planning of a reverse logistics network from the perspective of a third party provider

The increasing pressure due to legislation and various public policies has prompted manufacturers to seriously take into consideration the impact of electronic waste. To overcome this challenge, several manufacturers have incorporated reverse logistics into their business lines. Due to a lack of resources and/or managerial expertise, several companies choose to outsource product recovery activities to third parties. The growing demand has given rise to the number of third party logistics providers, who are assigned the task of efficiently and cost effectively achieving product recovery. The work of the 3PRL’s commences with the collection of returned products from various companies to retrieve maximum value harvested in the form of reusable products, components and materials. Thus, a 3PRLP needs to establish a recovery process able to effectively retrieve value from various types of product. To deal with multiple types of products, the recovery network needs to work with a balanced disassembly line. Thus in this paper we proposes a cost effective reverse logistics network from the perspective of the third party, which integrates the disassembly line balancing in the planning recovery network. This study develops a mixed integer non-linear programming problem for the same. The model is validated using various products from the liquid crystal displays industry.

An evaluation of vendor managed inventory practices from small and medium indian enterprises

Vendor managed inventory has proven to be an effective tool for improving the supply chain performance by decreasing inventory-related costs and increasing customer service. It is quite evident from the literature that vendor managed inventory (VMI) has been successfully implemented in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). However, studies related to the implementation of VMI in Indian SMEs are very limited. Therefore, this study presents an empirical investigation of VMI practices in Indian SMEs using survey methodology. The paper evaluates the benefits, barriers, and effects of adopting VMI in Indian SMEs, and also investigates the IT tools and software used for VMI adoption. Furthermore, this study explores the dissimilarities among various sectors of SMEs adopting VMI. Based on the proposed methodology, it is found that organizational issues and unwillingness to share information are the major barriers. In terms of benefits, the major influencing variables are improved efficiency and improved channel relations.