Balancing Acquisition And Sorting Policies Of Remanufacturing

Abstract

A remanufacturer struggles with uncertainty of returns and quality of products. With regard to the remanufacturing process, this study focuses on the determination of the following policies: a) Acquisition policy and b) Sorting policy. The purpose of this study is to find the optimality of both acquisition and sorting which, to meet demand with the maximization of profits over time, may need to be changed. More specific research questions are as follows: a) How much product returns should be obtained to meet demand through remanufacturing?, b) What level of sorting discrimination should be used for disassembly to meet demand at minimal cost?, c) How should constrained capacities be incorporated in the decision making model?, d) How should multiple suppliers with different quality mixes be incorporated in the decision making model?, and e) How should a secondary market for disassembled parts be incorporated in the decision making model?. For the model test, numerical example with sensitivity analysis is used.