An integrated location-inventory problem in a closed-loop supply chain with third-party logistics

Third-party logistics (3PL) is a fast growing business. Many large organisations are using 3PL services to reduce operating costs, simplify business processes, and enhance operations and supply chain flexibility. In this paper, we study location-inventory decisions jointlyin a closed-loop system with 3PL. First, a model formulation is proposed to develop mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) models for the location-inventory problem under study. Then, a novel heuristics based on differential evolution and thegenetic algorithm is designed to solve the MINLP models efficiently. Last, numerical study is presented to illustrate and validate the solution approach.