· TS 6.3 : Robust sustainable supply chain management
Chair: Masoumeh Kazemi Zanjani
Abstract: The sustainability movement has gained significant momentum over the last few decades. Landfilling of End-Of-Life (EOL) products is a major concern in terms of sustainability and environmental footprints. Whether it is due to legislation, social responsibility concerns, or potential economic benefits, more Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are taking responsibility for the recovery of their end-of-life products. Hence, the scope of traditional logistics has been extended to reverse and/or closed-loop supply chains to include the reverse flow from the customers to the conventional forward value chain.
On the one hand, the high degree of uncertainty in the quality of EOL products along with the uncertain quantity of the return stream are critical elements that must be taken into consideration for the design and planning of reverse and closed loop supply chains. On the other hand, whenever the reverse part of the value chain is outsourced to third party logistics (3PLs), designing proper contracts between the OEM and the 3PLs is quite essential so that the recovery target of EOL products is achieved. The role of proper collaboration and coordination mechanism among the entities of such value chains becomes more crucial whenever the economic benefits of the recovery practice is relatively low while the OEM is faced with stringent legislation on the take-back of its products.
The goal of this thematic session is to invite researchers to present their contributions on robust strategic and tactical planning tools as well as collaboration/coordination mechanisms in reverse and closed-loop supply chains. This special session looks for contributions concerning, but not limited to:
· Reverse Supply Chain (RSC) design under uncertainty
· Closed-Loop Supply Chain (CLSC) design under uncertainty
· Tactical planning under uncertainty in RSC and CLSC networks
· Production and Inventory planning under uncertainty in RSC and CLSC networks
· Collaboration mechanisms in reverse and closed-loop supply chains
Contact: , Associate Professor, Concordia University, Canada