System Dynamics Modeling for Strategic Management of Green Supply Chain

Environmental issues are rapidly emerging as one of the most important topics in strategic manufacturing decisions. Perusal of the literature has shown many models to support executives in the assessment of a company’s environmental performance. Unfortunately, none of these identifies operating guidelines on how the systems should be adapted to support the deployment of different types of green supplychain strategies. This chapter seeks to investigate how system dynamics modeling can be supportive for management of feasible green supply-chain strategies. Besides conceptual considerations, we base our arguments on the development of efficient performance measurement systems for remanufacturing facilities in reverse supply chains, taking into account not only economic but also environmental issues. The behavior of the green supply-chain management under study is analyzed through a simulation model based on the principles of the system dynamics methodology. The simulation model can be helpful for green strategic management as an experimental tool, which can be used to evaluate alternative longterm strategies (“what-if” analysis) using total supply chain profit as measure of strategy effectiveness. Validation and numerical experimentation further illustrate the applicability of the developed methodology, while providing additional intuitively sound insights.

Applying Web-Based Collaborative Decision-Making in Reverse Logistics

The increasing environmental concerns and the technological advances have boosted the post-use treatment of nearly all kinds of products and a new area for research and application has emerged described by the term “reverse logistics.” In this chapter, parameters that may affect reverse logistics operation are discussed from a decision-making perspective, so that alternative design options may be proposed and evaluated. In particular, these parameters are used for the qualitative evaluation of the reverse supply chain of mobile phones in Greece. For this purpose, we present an illustrative application of a Web-based decision support tool that may assist collaborative decision-making in conflicting environments, where diverse views, perspectives, and priorities shared among stakeholders have to be considered.

Green Product Retrieval and Recommendations System

This chapter introduces a preference-based recommendation procedure in a green product information retrieval system. It constructs a green information management system based on data mining technology. Green products and relevant green regulations were collected and then integrated in a content-based and collaborative filtering method to provide a preference-based query interface for green products. It is hoped that the proposed system offers consumers a green information platform when they are considering buying green products. Our proposed system recommends the best possible choices for consumers that indicate a green preference. Besides serving as a green information retrieval for the consumers, the system also assists the product designers with understanding the preference some consumers have for green products and the satisfaction they get from buying these products.

A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach for Household Appliances and Automobile Recycling

Rapid technological developments are leading to a significant decrease in the demand for old technology products. As a result, old technology products are rushed to their end-of-lives (EOLs) even though they still function properly and have the ability to satisfy stated needs. It is therefore important to find environmentally and economically benign ways to handle this accumulating waste to regain the value added to such products and to reduce the environmental damage. However, EOL recovery options are not always economically justifiable due to the complexity and uncertainty involved in the process. To reduce these setbacks, it is crucial to perform an analysis prior to taking any action and rank the products according to the importance of their EOL processing outcomes. To this end, this chapter proposes a data envelopment analysis (DEA) algorithm to determine the technical efficiency of end-of-life processing of household appliances and automobiles depending on various tangible and intangible performance criteria.

Modeling of Green Supply Chain Logistics

The green supply chain management has drawn researchers’ attention in recent years, but most of the proposed models for green topics on the subject are case based, and for this reason, they lack generality. In this work, the design of a supply chain network is studied. In this chapter, we try to overcome this limitation and a generalized model is proposed, in which a logistics chain network problem is formulated into a 0-1 mixed integer linear programming model and the decisions for the function of manufactures, distribution centers, and dismantlers will be suggested with minimum cost. A numerical example is provided for illustration.

A Vehicle Routing and Scheduling Model for a Distribution Center

One key role along green supply chain is the distribution center which has the responsibility to deliver the commodities to the customers and collect the end-used products back to the center for further process. This activity requires a distributor to determine how many vehicles with what sizes along which routes to deliver commodities so that the demands from all customers will be satisfied within customers’ available time with minimum operation cost. This problem can be classified into a vehicle routing and scheduling problem with multiple vehicle types and service time windows. In practice, the complexity of the problem requires a structural model to facilitate general analysis and applications. However, also because of its complexity, an efficient solution procedure is equivalently important. Therefore, in this study, we have first developed a model for a distribution center to support the decisions on vehicle types and numbers; as well as the routing route and schedule so that the overall operation cost will be minimized. Since this model of vehicle routing and scheduling problem with multiple vehicle types and multiple time windows (VRSP-MVMT) is a nondeterministic polynomial time (NP)-hard problem, we have developed a genetic algorithm (GA) for efficient solution. The efficiency and accuracy of the algorithm will be evaluated and illustrated with numerical examples.

Identifying and Clustering of Target Customers of Green Products

The number of consumers concerned about the environment is growing. Although the promotion of green products is recognized as a basic method for solving the waste crisis and improving the environment, resources for producing or serving green products are relatively limited, causing inconveniences and elevated prices for the consumer. Therefore, it becomes significant that those customers who are willing to sacrifice convenience in order to purchase higher priced green products be identified. Through the affirmation of target customers in an effective marketing system, enterprises can recycle used products efficiently, increase profits and successfully transmit advertising information to consumers who are disposed to buy green products. In this chapter, we apply data mining techniques to cope with this problem. After clustering the customers, a bi-objective nonlinear problem is constructed with multiple attribute utility theory; the target customers form the foundation of marketing.

Sustainable Product Service Systems

This chapter introduces sustainable product service systems (S-PSS) as a means of achieving both forward and reverse supply chain utilization, leading to much improved resource productivity coupled with business and social benefits. It outlines the challenge to enable economic growth, especially in developing countries, with corresponding reduction in consumption of resources, greenhouse emissions, and waste. It is argued that S-PSS can make a significant contribution, not only in greening products, but also in poverty alleviation, employment generation, and social development. An Australian, industrybased product stewardship scheme for used computers is first outlined. The potential for S-PSS to take product stewardship to a new level is then explained, with reference to several Hewlett-Packard case studies and research involving Interface modular carpets. The author hopes that the potential for S-PSS to deliver business and social benefits with less resource use may be recognized, leading to necessary further investigation and research.

From Cleaner Production to Greening the Local Economy

As interests in the impacts of business activities on environment have been growing, environmental policy is now shifting from the “end of pipe” stage to the next stage, which factor in the life cycles and social efficiency. An increasing trend in environmental departments of state and municipal governments in Europe is that these departments have outgrown their restriction-based environmental measures. Their concept of environmental policy has shifted to management support programs that helps small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increase their competitiveness through improving their environmental efficiency. This chapter discusses and compares two environmental programs: the case of die Effizienz Agentur NRW (EFA) and the case of der ÖkoBusinessPlan Wien, the Eco Business Plan Vienna (EBP). The goal of this chapter is to extract the conveyed meanings of partnerships and the role of public sectors through the activities of local intermediaries such as agents need to play in fostering environmental conservation. The focus of discussion is on the partnerships among the parties involved in the programs and on the program operations.

Environmental Criteria in a MCDM Context

This chapter addresses the main issues that are worth considering when using environmental criteria in a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) context and provides some guidance for a proper and efficient use of environmental criteria in a MCDM context. Among the main issues considered in this chapter, we can mention the definition and representation of criteria, their weighting, and their selection. The relation of criterion to other notions such as attribute, objective, goal, and indicator is also explained. Regarding the environmental criteria, we emphasize their main characteristics and indicate how these characteristics can support the users in selecting appropriate MCDM methods. An illustrative example about the selection of the best scenario for the treatment of a vacuum cleaner at the end of its life cycle is given. It shows the type of reverse supply chain problems in which environmental criteria can be used to evaluate and compare alternatives.