Study On Reverse Logistics Operating Mode And Decision-Making

There's an increasing demand for natural resources due to economy development in the worldwide society. However, the resources, especially some unrenewable resources, are faced with the crisis of exhausted. On the other hand, social production and consumption often produce a large amount of castoffs and returns, which not only brings a heavy burden on the companies cost, but also deteriorates the natural environment because of incorrect treatments. Along with the development of people's environmental and economical consciousness, it is found that reasonable disposition of the castoffs and returns can not only save resources and improve environment conditions, but also bring some economy benefits to companies. The value of reverse logistics gradually emerges.In this context, for companies, how to operate reverse logistics and simplify transaction process, consequently reduce logistics cost, improve service, and in the meantime assort with the society and environment as well, that is the research objective of the paper.The paper is divided into three parts in the main. Firstly, it gives a brief introduction and an analysis of reverse logistics, including the reasons, classifications and the processing of reverse logistics. Then, the reverse logistics operating modes are studied respectively from the point of view of retailers and manufacturers. Retailers usually consider reverse logistics as customer returns and products recall, and play the role of "deliverer" of returns. While manufacturers often see EOL (End-of-Life) products as their reverse logistics and act as the ultimate "resolver". Study of the operating modes includes process descriptions, indexes setting up based on Balanced Scorecard, qualitative analysis and comparisons of modes, and suggestions on choosing reverse logistics mode for companies. Finally, based on the previous indexes, the paper experimentally uses Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation and Analytic Hierarchy Process to construct a decision-making model for manufacturers' reverse logistics. To be more specific, the paper approaches the issue of home appliance EOL recovery in the quantitative way, makes some judgement and the final conclusion. And the case study preliminarily validates the usability of the decision-making model. Besides, the paper also puts forward some advices on how to operate reverse logistics effectively, with the hope of providing some valuable approaches in this new field.