Optimised redesign of reverse logistics network with multi-level capacity choices for household appliances

Reverse logistics networks reintroduce end-of-life products to remanufacturing, which is significant for sustainable development and environmental protection. In this paper, we investigate the current reverse logistics network of household appliances in China and redesign a new network that introduces necessary facilities: disassembly centres and three types of remanufacturing plants to improve recycling rates. A mixed-integer linear programming model with multi-level capacity choices is proposed to determine the locations and capacities for disassembly centres and remanufacturing plants. An efficient decomposition-and-expansion heuristic is developed to solve the model. The redesigned network is evaluated using a real case. The results indicate that the recycling rate is largely improved by the new network in which almost all useful materials can be recycled, whereas, in the traditional network, only metals are efficiently recycled. A sensitivity analysis of model parameters is conducted using the Taguchi method to identify their effects on recycling decisions. The proposed algorithm is further evaluated using a set of randomly generated instances. The results show that the algorithm can yield high-quality solutions within a short time. The best configuration of the algorithm is suggested via sensitivity analysis of parameters using the generated instances.