An activity matrix (AM) shows the activities that transform an organization’s inputs into outputs. The inputs are the system targets and the materials, energy and other resources that are used to achieve these. The outputs are the system performance expressed in terms of production, quality,...

A common finding in inventory models for reverse logistics found in the literature, from the earliest to the most recent work, is that the inventory policy shifts between two extremes, i.e., ‘dispose all’ or ‘recover all’. These models also share a common and unrealistic assumption that...

An approach similar to Salameh and Jaber (2000) has been used in this paper to produce an optimal production/order quantity that takes care of imperfect processes. An imperfect inspection process (Raouf et al., 1983) is utilized to describe the defective proportion of the received lot. That is,...

Mathematical models of inventory typically include the three inventory associated costs of surplus, shortage and ordering. These classic inventory models are then analysed so as to choose inventory parameters that usually minimise the total cost of operating the inventory system being...

Learning curve theory has been widely used as a managerial tool to describe and model product and process improvement. This paper investigates a three-level supply chain (supplier-manufacturer-retailer) where the manufacturing operations undergo a learning-based continuous improvement process....