Prepare for the Worst - Using Facility Location to Alleviate Product Recall Risks

Abstract

This paper is motivated by major food product recall events in recent years, especially how the timely and effective response using post-recall management can make a difference. We consider the rare but very influential major product recalls as disruptions to the supply chain and incorporate locating reprocessing centers for the returned products to mitigate expected operational costs. We adopt the closed loop network design framework and assume the location decisions for reprocessing center take place after the product recall events. Our scenario-based analysis shows the approach is effective in both absolute and relative measures.