1. Context and definition of business needs

The company we used as an example for our study wants to set up reverse logistics for the printers it manufactures.

The idea of reverse logistics came to the minds of the company's logistician and management because they knew that competitors were starting to recover their end-of-life products, either to destroy them in compliance with environmental guidelines, or to cannibalize them (i.e. reuse them). Similarly, the after-sales service recorded many returns (of various kinds) throughout the year. Management wants to know why there are returns, and would like to have a solution for dealing with them at the lowest possible cost.

The company does not yet know how to deal with this problem. Management is aware that some of its main competitors are starting to implement reverse logistics, and would like to carry out a...