Abstract
Traditionally, firms have been spending significant time and money in improving their forward supply chains while ignoring their potential reverse supply chains. However, in today’s competitive business environment, it is important that firms study the profitability and benefits of implementing a reverse supply chain while considering the uncertainties associated with the supply and composition of used products, disassembly time, recycling/remanufacturing time, and demand for recycled/remanufactured goods. In this paper, we demonstrate how a simulation software package, Crystal Ball®, can be used to help a firm predict whether investment in a reverse supply chain is profitable with respect to a given product, while considering the aforementioned uncertainties. Crystal Ball® is a spreadsheet-based software package designed for predictive modeling, forecasting, Monte Carlo simulation and optimization.
Keywords
Reverse Supply Chains, Crystal Ball®
Disciplines
Industrial Engineering | Mechanical Engineering
Publisher
Northeast Decision Sciences Institute
Publication Date
2009
Rights Information
Originally published in the Proceedings of the 2009 Northeast Decision Sciences Institute Conference, Uncasville, CT, April 1-3, 2009 (CD-ROM)
Rights Holder
Surendra M. Gupta
Permanent URL
Recommended Citation
Pochampally, Kishore K.; Gupta, Surendra M.; and Dhakar, Tej S., "Use of Crystal Ball® to predict profitability of a reverse supply chain" (2009). Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications. Paper 14. http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20000262
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Notes
Originally published in the Proceedings of the 2009 Northeast Decision Sciences Institute Conference, Uncasville, CT, April 1-3, 2009 (CD-ROM)