Vision

Traditionally, supply chain management focuses on the flow of products from supplier to the end customer. Nowadays, with the rise of e-commerce and a growing concern for sustainability (the combination of economic, social and ecological value), there is an increasing need to manage product returns both more efficiently and more effectively. The management of product returns in order to divert these from landfill and instead reintroduce them into the forward supply chain is what we call “closed loop supply chain management”.

The growing concern about sustainability (scarcity of resources, pollution, global warming) has increased the pressure on society to put more emphasis on collecting so-called ‘end-of-life’ products for reuse and recycling (‘closing the loop’). More and more legislation is installed to enforce original manufacturers to take responsibility for the products they sell. To sustain economically viable operations one has to thoroughly reconsider supply chain design (collection, recovery, redistribution), develop markets for product and material reuse, and invest in product design for easy disassembly, reuse and recycling. As forward supply chains become more global, closing the loop may call for global solutions as well.

The CLSC centre at RSM aims to be portal for dissemination of news and research on all facets of closed loop supply chain management. For this it draws on an international network of top research institutions and its researchers.