Solving a Closed-Loop Location-Inventory-Routing Problem with Mixed Quality Defects Returns in E-Commerce by Hybrid Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm

Abstract

This paper presents a closed-loop location-inventory-routing problem model considering both quality defect returns and nondefect returns in e-commerce supply chain system. The objective is to minimize the total cost produced in both forward and reverse logistics networks. We propose a combined optimization algorithm named hybrid ant colony optimization algorithm (HACO) to address this model that is an NP-hard problem. Our experimental results show that the proposed HACO is considerably efficient and effective in solving this model.