CLOSED-LOOP SUPPLY CHAIN OPTIMIZATION UNDER GREENNESS, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, CARBON EMISSIONS AND UNCERTAINTY CONSIDERATIONS

Abstract

Organizations achieve economic and environmental benefits through CLSC activities. This thesis contributes to CLSC design through an extensive literature review focussing on: 1) robust and stochastic optimization, 2) product quality and reliability, 3) carbon emissions, and 4) the greenness index. Articles are classifed according to several criteria. Two CLSC mathematical modelling approaches to maximize network profit are proposed based on identifed gaps in the literature. The model in the first approach incorporates the effects of EOS and part reliability on IRDCs location in the presence of transshipment of inspected products between IRDCs. In the second approach, a deterministic model with presorting facilities to reduce transportation costs and carbon emissions is developed. A robust optimization extension is proposed to deal with uncertain return product quality. Several numerical experiments are conducted to help understand the behaviour of the formulations and gain managerial insights.