Prioritizing the Solutions to Reverse Logistics Barriers for the E-Commerce Industry in Pakistan Based on a Fuzzy AHP-TOPSIS Approach

In the past few years, reverse logistics practices have successfully managed to gain more attention in various industries and among supply chain researchers and experts. This is due to globalization, environmental concerns, and customer requirements, which have asserted industries’ concerns for reverse logistics management. In E-commerce, the process of reverse logistics originates with parcel refusal, undelivered goods, and exchanges. In developing countries like Pakistan, the adoption and implications of reverse logistics are still at their early stages. E-commerce companies give more attention to forward logistics and ignore logistics’ upstream flow in the supply chain. This study aims to identify, as well as list, the barriers and obtain the solutions to those identified barriers, and rank the barriers and their solutions so that logisticians and experts can solve them as per their priority. From the extensive literature review and experts’ opinions, we have found 14 barriers in implementing effective reverse logistics. Eight solutions to those barriers were also found from the literature review. This paper proposed the methodology based on fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (fuzzy-AHP), which used to get the weights of each barrier by using pairwise comparison, and fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (fuzzy-TOPSIS) method, which was adopted for the final ranking of solutions to reverse logistics. The case of the Pakistan E-commerce industry is used in the proposed method.

Construction of the Reverse Resource Recovery System of e-Waste Based on DLRNN

The research on the reverse resource network of e-waste at home and abroad is still in its infancy, and most of it is only based on traditional forward logistics. Reverse resources are the process of moving goods from their typical final destination for recycling value or proper disposal. With the intensification of market competition and the strengthening of environmental protection legislation by the government, reverse resources are no longer a neglected corner in the supply chain. The DLRNN model of the e-waste reverse resource recovery system constructed in this paper can provide an important theoretical and empirical basis for the rational utilization of waste electronic products and fully tap the potential value of waste electronic products, which is of great significance to the recycling of natural resources. In this paper, a hybrid network framework DLRNN based on deep learning (DL) and cyclic neural network (RNN) is designed for problem classification. Experimental results show that the classification accuracy of this framework is improved by 2.4% on TREC and 2.5% on MSQC without additional word vector conversion tools.

Building Robust Closed-Loop Supply Networks against Malicious Attacks

With recent industrial upgrades, it is essential to transform the current forward supply networks (FSNs) into closed-loop supply networks (CLSNs), which are formed by the integration of forward and reverse logistics. The method chosen in this paper for building reverse logistics is to add additional functions to the existing forward logistics. This process can be regarded as adding reverse edges to the original directed edges in an FSN. Due to the limitation of funds and the demand for reverse flow, we suppose that a limited number of reverse edges can be built in a CLSN. To determine the transformation schemes with excellent robustness against malicious attacks, this paper proposes a multi-population evolutionary algorithm with novel operators to optimize the robustness of the CLSN, and this algorithm is abbreviated as MPEA-RSN. Then, both the generated and realistic SNs are taken as examples to validate the effectiveness of MPEA-RSN. The simulation results show that the index R, introduced to evaluate the robustness of CLSNs, can be improved by more than 95%, and this indicates that (1) the different schemes for adding reverse routes to an FSN can lead to different robustness values, and (2) the robustness of the transformed CLSN to malicious attacks can be significantly improved after optimization by MPEA-RSN. When an FSN is to be transformed into a CLSN, this paper can provide a frame of reference for building a CLSN that is robust to malicious attacks from a network structural perspective.

Reverse Logistics

As more companies are engaging in reverse logistics activities, it is imperative to develop a better understanding of this important concept. This chapter covers fundamental issues related to reverse logistics. After introducing a definition of reverse logistics, a discussion is provided on its importance and contrasts with forward logistics. Returns reduction, closed-loop supply chain, and circular economy are identified as important topics related to reverse logistics. Examples are then used to explain the economic value recovery as well as the strategic and operational value of reverse logistics. After delineating the key processes in reverse logistics, this chapter identifies reverse logistics challenges and best practices. Last, the status of reverse logistics research is discussed along with a list of future research topics.

A comparative study on end-of-life vehicles network design

This paper investigates the current research in the field of the end-of-life vehicles (ELV) recycling network. The optimisation of the location of a network facilities in forward logistics in the automotive industry has received a lot of attention for many years but the reverse logistics for ELVs has been a subject of investigations since the beginning of 21st century. ELV recycling network design gained in popularity after the European Union and other countries like Japan, South Korea and recently China introduced legal obligations to organize a collecting or recycling network for used vehicles. When regulations are introduced, there is a need for a systemic solution to the problem, especially since the obligation to create a collection network is often accompanied by requirements related to its accessibility for vehicle owners or efficiency of operation. With the growing scope of legal regulations, companies or organisations responsible for the network are forced to redesign the existing recycling infrastructure in a given area so that it meets specific requirements. Initially, the most important criterion was network availability. Currently, the same importance is attached to economic, environmental and social aspects in order to meet the sustainability criteria. In this paper, forty one peer-reviewed published studies focused on network design were classified. Its main purpose is to provide an extensive review of state-of-the-art research published in the period 2000-2019. The scope of the review is limited to network design problems including facility location and flow allocation problems. Only papers that present mathematical models are considered. Studies on the ELV network design are classified based on: type of supply chain, type of network, optimisation problem, type of facilities, modelling technique, single/multi objectivity, objective function, period of time, solution approach and scope of implementation. The final part of the paper includes discussion of the methodology of the reviewed studies and some recommendations for future research area.

Returns Management

The e-retail sector of the Indian e-commerce industry being a price-sensitive market has witnessed an increase in customer interest and flexibility to compare a product while making a purchase decision through e-commerce platforms. The increase in internet penetration and users in India has been facilitated by a boost of the telecom industry and data penetration from 34% in 2017 to 60% in 2022. While some players like Flipkart and Amazon have disrupted the sector with their customer acquisition ratio in the market, other new players, Jio Mart and Paytm Mall, are merely surviving or gearing up to the competition. The cost factors like marketing, forward logistics, inventory, and reverse logistics are associated with customer acquisition, which the organizations are not able to recover because of low average gross merchandise value (GMV) and high logistics cost to serve the customer. This chapter depicts the returns management process, which, while integrating the forward and the reverse logistics in a supply chain, is productive financially and logistically.

Green innovations in logistics supporting the development of innovative green technologies, processes, products and services in companies in Slovakia

Significant changes on global markets influence behaviour of businesses as well as position of logistics. As logistics represents one of the parts in business process, it is important to monitor its direction and development. Modern management in a business, application of new information, technologies and systems, stricter legislation requirements, they all move business logistics forward. Logistics systems are being constantly modernised. Modernisation greatly considers automation, robotics, development of artificial intelligence and digitalisation. Rapid development of technologies and systems causes that future form of logistics, together with technologies, will represent important source of competitive advantage on the market. The main objective of the scientific paper is to identify, analyze, evaluate and generalize the use of green logistics in Slovakia in order to achieve the competitiveness of the company on the market. Green logistics will be one of the most dominant trends in business logistic in forthcoming period.

Study on the Effect of Environmental Regulation on the Green Total Factor Productivity of Logistics Industry from the Perspective of Low Carbon

Under the low-carbon background, with the aid of the Malmquist–Luenberger SBM (Slack-based Measure) model of unexpected output, the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of the logistics industry in Jiangsu Province, China, was measured and decomposed in this study based on the reality and experience of logistics industry development in 13 cities in three regions of Jiangsu Province in the years 2006–2018 by taking resource consumption into the input system and discharged pollutants into the output system. It is concluded that the environmental regulation (ER) has a significant positive effect on the growth of the GTFP of the logistics industry, and technological progress has become an important endogenous force that promotes the GTFP of the logistics industry in Jiangsu Province. On this basis, a dynamic GMM (Generalized method of moment) model and a Tobit model were constructed to further study the possible temporal and spatial effects of ER on the GTFP of the logistics industry. The research results reveal that the ER can exert both promoting and inhibitory effects on the GTFP of the logistics industry, and there is a temporal turning point for the effects. Besides, the effects notably differ spatially and temporally. Finally, some policies and advice for the green sustainable development of the logistics industry were proposed. For example, the government and enterprises should pay attention to the green and efficient development of the logistics industry and dynamically adjust the ER methods. They should consider the greening of both forward logistics links and reverse logistics system in the supply chain.

A Novel Reverse Logistics Network Design Considering Multi-Level Investments for Facility Reconstruction with Environmental Considerations

Reverse logistics is convincingly one of the most efficient solutions to reduce environmental pollution and waste of resources by capturing and recovering the values of the used products. Many studies have been developed for decision-making at tactical, practical, and operational levels of the reverse supply chain. However, many enterprises face a challenge that is how to design the reverse logistics networks into their existing forward logistics networks to account for both economic and environmental sustainability. In this case, it is necessary to design a novel reverse logistics network by reconstructing the facilities based on the existing forward logistics network. Multi-level investments are considered for facility reconstruction because more investment and more advanced remanufacturing technologies need to be applied to reduce the carbon emissions and improve facility capacities. Besides, uncertain elements include the demand for new products and return quantity of used products, making this problem challenging. To handle those uncertain elements, a bi-objective stochastic integer nonlinear programming model is proposed to facilitate this novel reverse logistics network design problem with economic and environmental objectives, where tactical decisions of facility locations, investment level choices, item flows, and vehicle assignments are involved. To show the applicability and computational efficiency of the proposed model, several numerical experiments with sensitivity analysis are provided. Finally, the trade-off between the profit and carbon emissions is presented and the sensitive analysis of changing several key input parameters is also discussed.

Research on Two-Way Logistics Operation with Uncertain Recycling Quality in Government Multi-Policy Environment

With the emphasis on environmental protection issues, countries have introduced a number of circular economy-related policies aimed at guiding enterprises to green development and green innovation. At the same time, they are encouraged to strengthen the combination of forward logistics and reverse logistics, providing an effective way to improve resource shortages and reduce environmental pollution. However, the quality of recycled products in reverse logistics is often uncertain, which not only increases the risk of production decisions of remanufacturers, but also affects the sales of new products in the forward logistics to a certain extent. Based on the uncertainty of recycling quality of waste products and the controllability of remanufacturing technology level, this paper studies the impact of various regulatory environments on the operation of a two-way logistics system. We solve the decision model of the system through game theory. The results show that the government’s policy can improve product recycling quality and remanufacturing technology. However, recycling rewards and punishments, remanufacturing technology subsidies, and recycling payment factors need to be within a certain range to ensure the effectiveness of the trading market. When the recycling regulation has been implemented, it is beneficial for manufacturers to choose to improve their remanufacturing technology level. This means that the combined effect of multiple policies is more conducive to the operation of a two-way logistics system.