Yann Bouchery

Optimisation de la chaine logistique avec prise en compte de critères de développement durable : Un focus sur les modèles de gestion de stock: Les problématiques liées au développement durable modifient fortement les habitudes des consommateurs ainsi que les stratégies des entreprises. Dans ce contexte, l’optimisation de la chaîne logistique avec prise en compte de critères de développement durable devient un défi majeur. Néanmoins, les travaux scientifiques basés sur des modèles quantitatifs sont encore rares. Nous contribuons donc à cette littérature en revisitant des modèles classiques d’optimisation de gestion de stock en prenant en compte des critères de développement durable. Nous sommes convaincus que les différents aspects du développement durable ne devraient pas être réduits à un seul objectif. Nous proposons donc une approche basée sur l’optimisation multi-objectif pour revisiter les modèles economic order quantity en mono- et multi-échelon. Ces modèles sont ensuite utilisés pour analyser les impacts de la coopération client-fournisseur ou de l’investissement dans des technologies vertes sur les performances de la chaîne logistique. Par ailleurs, les entreprises deviennent de plus en plus proactives vis-à-vis du développement durable. Nous proposons donc d’utiliser des méthodes d’aide multicritère à la décision au lieu de considérer le développement durable comme une contrainte dans les modèles. Dans cette optique, l’entreprise peut fournir des informations sur les compromis désirables entre les dimensions économiques, environnementales et sociales du développement durable afin d’obtenir rapidement une solution satisfaisante.

As competition has shifted from individual firms to entire networks, supply chain management has become central to operations research. The extensive body of related work has advanced both supply chain practice and management mathematics theory. Yet, sustainable supply chain management has not received the same depth of treatment. In this editorial, we argue that sustainability cannot simply be added to existing models through small modifications. It requires developing a brand-new perspective on model-based research. We propose four key features that models for sustainable supply chains must incorporate. First, they need to handle trade-offs across different dimensions of sustainability. Second, they must look beyond single companies to examine whole supply chains. Third, they should account for the wider uncertainties involved in measuring environmental and social impacts. Fourth, they need to embrace circular economy principles. The four articles in this special issue show how new mathematical methods can address these challenges. We conclude by discussing future research directions that would help incorporate the inherent complexity and uncertainty of sustainability problems.

Reusable packaging has emerged as a promising strategy to mitigate plastic waste, yet practical implementation remains challenging. Consumers face upfront deposit payments and the inconvenience of returning empty packaging, while firms incur additional costs related to collection and cleaning. This paper sheds light on a firm's decision to introduce products in reusable packaging under a deposit-refund system. We model a firm that offers products in both disposable and reusable formats and jointly chooses the product price and the deposit fee for the reusable option. The model incorporates consumer heterogeneity in both product valuations and return-related hassle costs. We characterize the firm's optimal pricing policy and identify the market conditions under which offering reusable packaging is profitable. We show that product price-beyond deposit fees-affects the return rate of reusable packaging. A sufficiently high price enables the firm to segment the market by directing high-hassle consumers toward the disposable option while offering the reusable option only to low-hassle consumers. This mechanism enables the firm to achieve full return rates without imposing large deposit fees. When consumers' willingness to pay for reusable solutions is limited, the firm relies on this segmentation strategy and restricts the reusable option to low-hassle consumers. As willingness to pay a premium increases, however, the firm expands reusable offerings to high-hassle consumers, increasing adoption but reducing return rates and diminishing environmental outcomes. We also examine policy interventions aimed at promoting reuse and show that banning or taxing disposable packaging can unintentionally lower return rates for reusable packaging and undermine environmental benefits.

This article addresses the challenges for companies that seek to invest in carbon abatement projects. Traditionally, such companies would address their own operations, but it might be more efficient to invest in improving the operations of a supplier or customer. By adopting a supply chain perspective on carbon abatement projects, this study proposes a way to account for activities beyond the company’s boundaries. First, the proposed decision-support framework enables companies to define the appropriate boundaries for carbon emission measurement and abatement and identify the relevant optimisation problem. Second, this framework describes options for optimising the level of abatement effort linked to each selected action. Third, an application of the framework to the Eastman Chemical Company reveals several real-world implications, including recommendations for where to exert carbon abatement efforts in a supply chain. As this illustrative case shows, external abatement efforts can be worthwhile in practice.

Intermodal hinterland transportation is becoming increasingly critical for global container supply chains. Managing intermodal hinterland networks is challenging because multiple actors often interact in practice. The intermodal hinterland network design games that we propose enable assessing the impact of having noncooperative users in intermodal networks. The games fall into the class of network design games but have key distinctive features. We provide some general results as well as an instance without a pure Nash equilibrium for the general case. Subsequently, we focus on the special case with a single intermodal connection available. We show that a pure Nash equilibrium always exists but that this one is not always unique. We additionally identify key structural properties for this single-hub game. These properties enable us to identify all pure Nash equilibria and a system-optimal solution in polynomial time. We illustrate our results with an application related to the development of an extended gate in the Netherlands and derive a series of insights. Overall, the results show that the multiple user feature of intermodal hinterland networks is critical and needs to be accounted for at the network design stage. We believe that this latter statement holds for general network design problems with multiple users.