Jo van Nunen - Böcker

Introduction Closing supply chains refers to taking care of items once they are no longer desired or can no longer be used by their user. Smart management of closed-loop supply chains means profitable recovery of value from these items (products, functional components, materials or packaging). The company closing the supply chain may be the original equipment manuf- turer (OEM), a distribution partner or a third party not involved in the f- ward distribution. In recent years, the management of closed-loop supply chains has gained importance because of increased legislation on producer respon- bility, requiring companies to take back products from customers and to organize for proper recovery and disposal. This legislation is partially due to increased awareness of environmental issues. However, smart com- nies have also understood that returned products often contain lots of value to be recovered. They manage closed-loop supply chains simply because it is a profitable business proposition.

In a globalized economy logistics has become a crucial area for the success of companies. For this reason distribution logistics is the most important and complex part of logistics. An efficient and effective management of distribution logistics is a key issue for the success of a company.