Used Product Acquisition Control by Financial Incentives in Remanufacturing

Uncertainty of the used product acquisition is one of the cost increasing factors in remanufacturing. Since used products are the raw materials in remanufacturing, too much or too little acquisition lower the efficiency of the production. This uncertainty is caused by the fact that remanufacturer does not know the status of the products in the market and the timing when they are replaced. But with the progress in the IoT technologies, monitoring the products and analyzing the captured data becomes feasible. Assuming the use of the IoT-enabled products, this study proposes a method to control used product acquisition by offering the financial incentives according to the remaining product lifetime. We evaluate feasibility of our proposal using a multi agent simulation model and show preferable incentive patterns to remanufacturer in the different situations. The practical insights presented in this study would help remanufacturers to run their business efficiently.