A framework of reverse logistics for the automobile industry

Reverse logistics has become more and more important to the automobile industry, owing to various reasons including unavoidable product recalls, legislative policy regarding environmental and sustainable issues, etc. In fact, the need for recovery of returned vehicles has been receiving more attention than ever before due to growing environmental concerns. Ironically, not many automobile manufacturers have a satisfactory reverse logistics system for recovering and reusing returned vehicles. This is partly because the effort devoted to this area is not very systematically investigated. In this connection, this paper aims at investigating the reverse logistics activities of the automobile industry, and to provide a framework for those activities. Firstly, the drivers for reverse logistics in this industry are revisited. Key components which are valuable and feasible for reuse or remanufacture are then identified. Based on this investigation, a framework of reverse logistics for the automobile industry is proposed. This is based on several evaluation factors (i.e. value of reversed products, legislation perspective and cost issues). Implementation issues and managerial implications are also summarised.