The integral decision on production/remanufacturing technology and investment time in product recovery

摘要

The financial impact of technological decisions being faced by firms introducing new products to markets is discussed in relation to its impact on available options. The integrated choice between a low (disposal) or high (remanufacturing) level of product recovery and the time at which to start remanufacturing activities offers three generic options, i.e., design for single use, design for reuse, and design for reuse with stock keeping. After introducing a basic dynamic framework comprising a product life cycle for the demand and a similar development for external return stream, the NPV of relevant payments associated with each option is arrived at and a detailed numerical study is used to examine the potential benefits from using the inventory and applicability of simple heuristic rules for stock keeping and for determining when to start remanufacturing.