A pro-active and collaborative approach to reverse logistics - a case study

H. K. Chan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

48 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Reverse logistics is considered to be the key for re-manufacturing and sustainable development. It has gained increasing attention in the last decade and has been a new frontier of strategic management. One of the driving forces for firms to adopt the reverse logistics practice is cost saving from reverse logistics activities. Another motivation to put reverse logistics forward is probably due to environmental impacts on non-returnable materials. Reverse logistics, however, may require cooperation of more than one company and hence it is generally poorly managed due to self-interest of different companies. Therefore, a pro-active and collaborative approach to reverse logistics is demanded. This paper reports a case study of using returnable packaging materials between a manufacturer and an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) supplier. A cross-company team was established to pursue the goal of the reverse logistics project. Tangible and intangible benefits of reverse logistics from this case study are presented in this paper.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)350-360
Number of pages11
JournalProduction Planning & Control
Volume18
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2007

Keywords

  • Collaborative approach
  • Lean production
  • Returnable packaging
  • Reverse logistics
  • Supply chain management

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