Proactive reduction of returns : management and metrics

Management of reverse logistics is becoming an important research area. Within this body of research, very little work has been done on proactively reducing returns. The current writing on returns management is almost exclusively efficiency focused. In essence, authors attempt to answer the question, how do we react well to errors and unaligned motivation in a system? A more proactive way of thinking of the problem is to ask how can we reduce errors and align motivation in a system so there is nothing to react to. This paper takes a first look at the opportunities of proactively working to reduce returns in a manufacturer distributor relationship. Findings suggest that returns come from both direct and indirect drivers. Direct returns come from linked causal relationships such as damages (DOA), incorrect shipments, and off schedule deliveries. Indirect returns are products returned at the discretion of distributors to minimize several different risks. Several methods of reducing returns are discussed and metrics are proposed.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2000

Author dc:creator

• Zaientz, Lucas A. (Lucas Aaron), 1971-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Jonathan L.S. Byrnes.

• Engineering Systems Division.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8735

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/8735