Green Closed-Loop Supply Chain Network under the COVID-19 Pandemic

The closed-loop supply chain considers conceptually the possibility of reverse logistics with the use of recycling, remanufacturing and disposal centers. This study contributes for the first time a green closed-loop supply chain framework for the ventilators, which are highly important in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed model simulates a case study of Iranian medical ventilator production. The proposed model includes environmental sustainability to limit the carbon emissions as a constraint. A novel stochastic optimization model with strategic and tactical decision making is presented for this closed-loop supply chain network design problem. To make the proposed ventilator logistics network design more realistic, most of the parameters are considered to be uncertain, along with the normal probability distribution. Finally, to show the managerial dimensions under the COVID-19 pandemic for our proposed model, some sensitivity analyses are performed. Results confirm the high impact of carbon emissions and demand variations on the optimal solution in the case of COVID-19.

Automated summary

This study introduces a green closed-loop supply chain framework for ventilators, addressing environmental sustainability and carbon emissions constraints, using a stochastic optimization model with strategic and tactical decision making. The proposed model is applied to a case study of Iranian medical ventilator production to analyze the impact of carbon emissions and demand variations on the optimal solution in the COVID-19 pandemic context. Sensitivity analyses show the managerial dimensions of the proposed model under the COVID-19 pandemic.