Seminar on "Assessing Product Returns for Sustainability in a Reverse Supply Chain"

One of the ways to improve sustainability, when many new products are produced today, depends on the ability of the reverse supply chain to channel most of the components of the returned products into the primary and/or secondary production processes, as we need to minimise the impact on land fill. However, improving sustainability in a supply chain is a challenge for practitioners, when there are multiple issues that have to be considered simultaneously while maintaining an effective and efficient supply chain in both forward and reverse directions that emphasise sustainable actions.

Global competitiveness also requires reducing operational costs and environmental impact which implies minimising recovery costs and lead-time while maximising the recoverable content and reliability of manufactured products with returned components. Participation in global supply chains also requires zero defects, delivery performance to customer driven schedule and continual focus on improvements. Hence, a performance assessment for the return stream is a necessity to help manufacturers and supply chain practitioners make better decisions. On the other hand, decision makers require a simple and logical methodology for identifying the best product recovery alternatives to implement product recovery options. This presentation explores one of the approaches to evaluate product performance of returned products, using four key performance attributes as the basis for improving sustainability through product recovery.

The proposed approach may motivate decision makers to consider sustainable recovery options by comparing PUVs of products for primary and secondary markets. The case study has demonstrated the conflict and complexity organisations face in a competitive industry (automotive parts and components) that wishes to participate in a global supply chain.