On the attractiveness of sorting before disassembly in remanufacturing

We examine the attractiveness of simple sorting procedures characterized by limited accuracy just before disassembly and remanufacturing of used products. That type of quick sorting is often made possible through the installation of simple electronic devices in new products, which record basic usage data and provide information about the remanufacturability of the product without the need for its disassembly. We study a two-level reverse supply chain with remanufacturing and we concentrate on the single-period setting. There is uncertainty about the remanufacturability of used products and we derive the conditions under which quick sorting is economically justifiable. We show that the economic attractiveness of sorting depends on the costs of transportation, disposal, disassembly, the cost and accuracy of the sorting procedure and the expected quality of the returned items.