Optimizing a reverse supply chain including transportation, operation, maintenance and remanufacturing costs

Reverse supply chain is a process dealing with the backward flows of used/damaged products or materials. Reverse supply chain includes activities such as collection, inspection, reprocess, disposal and redistribution. A well-organized reverse supply chain can provide important advantages such as economic and environmental ones. In this study, we propose a general framework and formulate a mathematical model for product return in reverse supply chain. We consider a multi-layer, multi-product for the model. The main objective of the paper is minimizing the total costs of reverse supply chain including transportation, fixed opening, operation, maintenance and remanufacturing costs of centers. To validate the mathematical model, a numerical example is solved using Lingo 9 software and the results are reported.