Three-layer supply chain policy under sharing recycling responsibility
Authors: Khedlekar Uttam Kumar , Singh Priyanka 
Published: September 2019

Purpose

For smooth running of business affairs, there needs to be a coordination among manufacturer, collector and retailer in forward and reverse supply chain. This paper handles the problem of making pricing, collecting and percentage sharing decisions in a closed-loop supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of responsibility sharing percentage on the profits of a manufacturer, a retailer and a collector. The paper further aims to understand the mutual interactions among decision variables and profit functions. It also determines the optimal selling price, optimal time, wholesale price, sharing percentage and optimal return rate in such a manner that the profit function is maximized.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors presented a three-echelon model consisting of a manufacturer, a retailer and a collector in the closed-loop supply chain and optimized the profits of each supply chain member. The authors introduced SRR models for the remanufacturing by providing some percentage of physical and financial support to the collector. Optimization techniques have been applied to obtain optimal solutions. Numerical examples and graphical representations of the optimal solutions are provided to illustrate the model.

Findings

This study stresses on profitable value retrieval from returned products, and it discusses how responsibility sharing can improve profitability and reduce the workload of an individual. In total, three main results are found. First, sharing and coordination among chain members can improve collector’s profit. Second, supply chain performance may also improve over time. Third, the profit of each member of the supply chain increases with an increase in sharing percentage up to a certain limit. So, the manufacturer can share the responsibility of the collector under a fixed limit.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation of this model is that there is no difference between manufactured and remanufactured products. There are many correlated issues that need to be further investigated. The future study in this direction may include multi-retailer, stochastic demand patterns.

Practical implications

It is directly utilized by supply chain industries in which coordination among chain members is still needed to maximize profits. This information enables the manufacturer to assist the collector financially or physically for the proper management of the three-layer supply chain. The present work will form a guideline to choose the appropriate parameter(s) and mathematical technique(s) in different situations for remanufacturable products.

Social implications

From the management point of view, this study delivers the strongest result to remanufacturing companies and for whom effective and efficient coordination among chain members is vital to the overall performance of the supply chain.

Originality/value

There are very few studies that consider the remanufacturing of used products under a fixed time period. The authors considered selling price-sensitive and time-dependent exponentially declining demand. This model is developed by considering all possible help to a collector from manufacturer to collect used products from consumers. This research complements past research by showing coordination among supply chain members within a fixed time horizon.