Manufacturing and supply chain operations are on the cusp of an era with the emergence of groundbreaking technologies. Among these, the digital twin technology is characterized as a paradigm shift in managing production and supply networks since it facilitates a high degree of surveillance and a communication platform between humans, machines, and parts. Digital twins can play a critical role in facilitating faster decision making in product trade-ins by nearly eliminating the uncertainty in the conditions of returned end-of-life products. This paper demonstrates the potential effects of digital twins in trade-in policymaking through a simulated product-recovery system through blockchain technology. A discrete event simulation model is developed from the manufacturer’s viewpoint to obtain a data-driven trade-in pricing policy in a fully transparent platform. The model maps and mimics the behavior of the product-recovery activities based on predictive indicators. Following this, Taguchi’s Orthogonal Array design is implemented as a design-of-experiment study to test the system’s behavior under varying experimental conditions. A logistics regression model is applied to the simulated data to acquire optimal trade-in acquisition prices for returned end-of-life products based on the insights gained from the system.
Abstract:Growing environmental awareness coupled with stricter governmental regulations has fueled the need for integrating sustainability into supply chain and logistics activities. Accordingly, recent studies in the literature have emphasized the significance of environmentally concerned logistics operations (ECLO). Research in the broad area of ECLO encompasses a wide range of topics including sustainable supply chain, green supply chain, closed-loop supply chain, low-carbon logistics, and waste management. In this paper, a comprehensive content analysis and area review is presented. Over 800 papers published between 1994 and 2017 in peer-reviewed journals, proceedings, and book chapters are utilized. These papers are analyzed in consecutive stages after being reviewed under a structural dimension process that addresses the fields of environmentally concerned logistics operations. Following the state-of-the-art review, a detailed analysis of ECLO research with a special emphasis on fuzzy applications is provided. The findings clearly indicate that the fuzzy multi-criteria decision making technique is a frequently used hybrid method, whereas fuzzy sets theory and other fuzzy hybrid techniques identify a gap in the related literature. This paper provides further critical analysis and other research suggestions in order to clarify these gaps and offer additional research perspectives. This information may provide extensive data that will enable future researchers to fill these gaps within this field.
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