Restructuring the Reverse Supply Chain: Challenges and Opportunities within the Automotive Industry

Abstract

Reverse supply chain management has gained increased attention in recent years, much due to its close relationship with circular economies. In circular economies, resources are used to recycle, reduce, and reuse materials. To perform this, a reverse supply chain is needed. This thesis will investigate how companies can structure their reverse supply chain to reach both financial and environmental targets. To analyze how the focal company works today and how they could work in the future, the ARA-model has been used. The ARA-model consists of analyzing activities, resources, and actors respectively and the relations between the three. To analyze the problem, two research questions were defined with focus on resource utilization and activity coordination. Based on the analysis made using the ARA-model, three improvement areas where identified. These are supply chain structure, supply chain visibility and goals and KPI’s. Within these areas, recommendations were given to improve both resource utilization and activity coordination.