We describe hybrid manufacturing/remanufacturing systems with a long lead time for manufacturing and a short lead time for remanufacturing. We review the classes of inventory strategies for hybrid systems in the literature. These are all based on equal lead times. For systems with slow...

In this article we focus on product return handling and warehousing issues. In some businesses return rates can be well over 20% and returns can be especially costly when not handled properly. In spite of this, many managers have handled returns extemporarily. The fact that quantitative methods...

In this paper an inventory model for a single reusable product is investigated, in which the random returns depend explicitly on the demand stream. Further, the model distinguishes itself from most other research in this field by considering leadtimes and a finite planning horizon. We show that...

While the net present value (NPV) approach is widely accepted as the right framework for studying production and inventory control systems, average cost (AC) models are more widely used. For the well known EOQ model it can be verified that (under certain conditions) the AC approach gives near...

Already for a long time retailers take back products. In this paper we explore the factors contributing to the decision of combining vs. separating inbound and outbound flows during the return handling process. We do so through a comparative analysis of the operations in nine retailer...

This paper evaluates the impact of misinformation for inventory systems with product returns. If one could exactly know how much is going to be returned and when, one would certainly benefit from incorporating this perfect information a priori in the management of production, inventory, and...

While the net present value (NPV) approach is widely accepted as the right framework for studying production and inventory control systems, average cost (AC) models are more widely used. For the well known EOQ model it can be veri_ed that (under certain conditions) the AC approach gives near...

In this paper we investigate recent initiatives with respect to extended producer responsibility in the aviation sector. We compare those with the existing practices in the automobile sector and the emerging regulations in the shipping sector. We describe the challenges and the lessons to be...

The Net Present Value (NPV) approach is considered to be the right approach to study inventory and production systems. But, approximate average cost (AC) approach is widely used in both practice and theory. However, the opportunity cost interpretation of AC framework is not that straightforward...

We explore the value of information in the context of a remanufacturer that faces uncertainty with respect to demand, product return, and product recovery (yield loss). We assume a single period model in which the operational decision of interest is the quantity of new product to order. Our...