A characterisation of logistics networks for product recovery

Recovery of used products is receiving much attention recently due to growi ng environmental concern. Efficient implementation requires appropriate log istics structures to be set up for the arising goods flow from users to pro ducers. We investigate the design of such logistics networks. As a basis fo r our analysis we review recent case studies on logistics network design fo r product recovery in different industries. We identify general characteris tics of product recovery networks and compare them with traditional logisti cs structures. Moreover, we derive a classification scheme for different ty pes of recovery networks. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserve d.