Designing a sustainable integrated forward/reverse logistics network

Abstract

Purpose

In recent years, governmental regulations and the pressure of non-governmental organizations have convinced corporations to consider sustainable issues in their decisions. A simultaneous design of forward and reverse logistics can keep us away from sub-optimality caused by tackling these two phases (forward and reverse logistics) separately.

Design/methodology/approach

Hence, this paper presents a new multi-objective mathematical model for integrated forward and reverse logistics regarding economic, environmental and social issues. A new hybrid multi-objective metaheuristic algorithm is developed to obtain a set of efficient solutions (Pareto solutions). The proposed algorithm hybridizes a well-known, non-dominated genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) with a simulated annealing algorithm.

Findings

To validate the algorithm, its results are compared to the obtained solutions from simple NSGA-II with respect to some comparison metrics. The numerical results show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm. Finally, concluding remarks and future research directions are provided.

Originality/value

By applying a model presented in this paper, one can reach to sustainable and integrated logistics network which considers forward and reverse flow of commodities simultaneously.

Citation

Farrokhi-Asl, H., Makui, A., Ghousi, R. and Rabbani, M. (2019), "Designing a sustainable integrated forward/reverse logistics network", Journal of Modelling in Management, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 896-921. https://doi.org/10.1108/JM2-09-2018-0136