Marisa P. de Brito

A Framework for Reverse Logistics

Reverse Logistics has been stretching out worldwide, involving all the layers of supply chains in various industry sectors. While some actors in the chain have been forced to take products back, others have pro-actively done so, attracted by the value in used products One way or the other, Reverse Logistics has become a key competence in modern supply chains. In this paper, we present a content analysis of reverse logistics issues. To do so, we propose a content framework focusing on the following questions with respect to reverse logistics: why? what? how?; and, who?, i.e. driving forces and return reasons, what type of products are streaming back, how are they being recovered, and who is executing and managing the various operations. These four basic characteristics are interrelated and their combination determines to a large extent the type of issues arising from the resulting reverse logistics system.

Reverse Logistics: A Review of Case Studies

Products, components, materials and other equipment stream forward and back wards and back in their supply chains. Reverse Logistics deals with the processes associated with the reverse stream from users/owners to re-users. This paper provides a review and content analysis of scientific literature on reverse logistics case studies. Over sixty case studies are included. In addition, we give an overview of particular issues, which we link with propositions, unanswered questions and thus directions for future research.

Modelling product returns in inventory control—exploring the validity of general assumptions

The literature on stochastic models for inventory control with product returns commonly makes the following simplifying assumptions: demand and returns are each a homogeneous (compound) Poisson process, and the processes are independent of each other. In this paper we explore the validity of these assumptions by analysing real data on return flows. In addition, we discuss practical implications of our findings and we provide insights on information management for inventory systems with return flows.

Managing Product Returns: The Role of Forecasting

In this article, we discuss ways of actively influencing product returns and we review data-driven methods for forecasting return flows that exploit the fact that future returns are a function of past sales. In particular we assess the value of return forecasting at an operational level, specifically inventory control. We conclude with implications for supply chain management.

Product and Material Returns: Handling and Warehousing Issues

According to the Material Handling Industry of America (see MHIA.org), material handling is the movement, storage, control, and protection of material, goods, and products throughout the process of manufacturing, warehousing, consumption, and disposal. The focus is on the methods, mechanical equipments, systems, and related controls used to achieve these functions, usually internal, within the company (see, for example, Tompkins et al., 1996). In this chapter, we focus primarily on warehousing activities. According to research of the ELA (1999), 7.7% of the revenues of the 500 European companies interviewed consists of logistics costs, of which 2% is in warehousing and 3.1% is in transport (with 1.2% in administration and 1.4% in inventory costs) . Return handling is even more costly. In some businesses, return rates can be over 20% (for example, fashion in the catalog industry) and returns can be especially costly when not handled properly (see Meyer, 1999, and Morphy, 2001). The Reverse Logistics Executive Council has announced that U.S. firms bear losses of the order of billions of dollars on account of return handling (see Rogers and Tibben-Lembke, 1999).