Towards the smart and sustainable transformation of Reverse Logistics 4.0: a conceptualization and research agenda.

The recent advancement of digitalization and information and communication technology (ICT) has not only shifted the manufacturing paradigm towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution, namely Industry 4.0, but also provided opportunities for a smart logistics transformation. Despite studies have focused on improving the smartness, connectivity, and autonomy of isolated logistics operations with a primary focus on the forward channels, there is still a lack of a systematic conceptualization to guide the coming paradigm shift of reverse logistics, for instance, how "individualization" and "service innovation" should be interpreted in a smart reverse logistics context? To fill this gap, Reverse logistics 4.

The application of Industry 4.0 technologies in sustainable logistics: a systematic literature review (2012-2020) to explore future research opportunities.

Nowadays, the market competition becomes increasingly fierce due to diversified customer needs, stringent environmental requirements, and global competitors. One of the most important factors for companies to not only survive but also thrive in today's competitive market is their logistics performance. This paper aims, through a systematic literature analysis of 115 papers from 2012 to 2020, at presenting quantitative insights and comprehensive overviews of the current and future research landscapes of sustainable logistics in the Industry 4.

A stochastic network design problem for hazardous waste management.

Hazardous waste management is of paramount importance due to the potential threats posed to the environment and local residents. The design of a hazardous waste management system involves several important decisions, i.e.

Reverse Logistics Network Design for Effective Management of Medical Waste in Epidemic Outbreaks: Insights from the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in Wuhan (China).

The outbreak of an epidemic disease may pose significant treats to human beings and may further lead to a global crisis. In order to control the spread of an epidemic, the effective management of rapidly increased medical waste through establishing a temporary reverse logistics system is of vital importance. However, no research has been conducted with the focus on the design of an epidemic reverse logistics network for dealing with medical waste during epidemic outbreaks, which, if improperly treated, may accelerate disease spread and pose a significant risk for both medical staffs and patients.

An Improved Multi-Objective Programming with Augmented ε-Constraint Method for Hazardous Waste Location-Routing Problems.

Hazardous waste location-routing problems are of importance due to the potential risk for nearby residents and the environment. In this paper, an improved mathematical formulation is developed based upon a multi-objective mixed integer programming approach. The model aims at assisting decision makers in selecting locations for different facilities including treatment plants, recycling plants and disposal sites, providing appropriate technologies for hazardous waste treatment, and routing transportation.