The present customer consumption models with short product lifecycles result in an increasing number of used products that need to be collected and reused or disposed. Both legal regulations and consumer concerns regarding these issues have led companies to include reverse material flows in their logistics operations. Materials management for remanufacturing purposes is more complex than in traditional manufacturing, primarily because of the inherent uncertainty in the timing, quality and quantity of returns. Moreover, when returns are not appropriate for reuse they have to be substituted with raw materials. Many companies face difficulties in the management of materials flows due to the fact that reverse flows have different characteristics than raw material flows. This book proposes a method/model for improving material flows management for remanufacturing activities.
