“Reusable transportation items” management: A case study

The management of product return flows, traditionally called reverse logistics, has received more and more attention from researchers and practitioners, because of the possible environmental and economic benefits highlighted in some studies of recent years. Another reason could also be an obligation of new legislation like for electronic and electrical waste management. Nevertheless, the maturity levels on these returns management strongly differ from one company to another. That is why, in this paper, we propose a notation system to classify different types of reverse logistics, particularly for reused products. Each notation so related to a generic model, developed and proposed to practitioners. These generic models should be adaptable to the specific requirements of a company (logistics network design, products management policies ...). After positioning the problem within the literature and explaining the approach, we describe the notation system proposed. Then, we focus on a real industrial application at a food company, describing their problematic, the tailored model as well as some smart logistics remarks to improve the results obtained.