Dr. Uday Venkatadri, PhD, PEng

Supply Chain Issues in eWaste Recovery

Professor
Department of Industrial Engineering
Dalhousie University

Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Time: 1:00-2:00 PM
Venue: Online Event

Abstract
In closed-loop supply chain (CSLC) networks, low quality of returns reduces the number of usable cores and hence affects the strategic decision of facility location and sizing. This problem can be overcome by adding presorting centers in the CLSC network since presorting costs are typically lower than the costs incurred at subsequent processing stages. Presorting centers can separate poor quality products at the start of the reverse logistics cycle and reduce transportation costs and emissions. A deterministic mathematical model and its robust variant are proposed to investigate the effects of the quality of returns on the CLSC network under the carbon cap (CC) and carbon cap-and-trade (CCT) policies. Numerical experiments are conducted with realistic parameters to demonstrate the effects of varying return quality on total emissions and profit, the impact of presorting center efficiency and transportation cost on the opening of presorting centers, and the impacts of CC and CCT policies on the configuration of the CLSC network. The main insight of this talk is that the carbon cap policy affects the optimal network structure much more than carbon cap and trade.

Speaker Biography
Uday Venkatadri, Ph.D., P.Eng, has been at Dalhousie University since July 2001 and also served as Department Head of Industrial Engineering from 2010-2015. Before joining Dalhousie, he was a Lead Architect for supply chain planning products at Baan (now Infor Global Solutions Inc.) and has also worked as a Research Associate at Université Laval in Québec City.

He holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University, a Master of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Clemson University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology-BHU, Varanasi, India.

His research is focused on production and distribution systems design within the Industry 4.0 context.  He is interested in forward and reverse supply chain management, the Physical Internet, and production planning. 

Contact Person:
Prof. Floris Goerlandt
email: floris.goerlandt@dal.ca

General Enquiry:
Ms. Tara Parker
Tel: 902.494.3281
email: ieng@dal.ca