Currently the subject of reverse logistics is such an important project that companies have created areas for its processing, it has developed over time until it became a basic aspect in many companies. Previously, the issue of logistics was only treated as, having the necessary product, in the right place, in the right time, at the lowest possible cost, nowadays these figuratively simple activities have been redesigned and are now a process.
Today the word logistics has many meanings, of which one of them is responsible for the efficient distribution of the products of a certain company at a lower cost and excellent customer service. In this way, logistics seeks to strategically manage the obtaining, flow, storage of products and inventory control, as well as the entire world of associated information, through which the organization and its distribution channel are channeled in such a way that the current and future profitability of the company is maximized in terms of costs and efficiency.
Reverse logistics creates the possibility of recovering and economically taking advantage of those products that no longer satisfy the consumer's needs; This generates a flow of materials and products towards the producer.
Logistics Definitions
Logistics: refers to the process of programming, implementing and controlling a flow of raw material, inventory in process, finished products and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption in the most efficient and economical way possible in order to meet the end customer requirements (UNAM, 2005).
Logistics is the set of means and methods that allow the organization of a company or a service. Business logistics involves a certain order in the processes that involve the production and marketing of merchandise. Therefore, logistics is said to be the relationship between production and the market. Physical distance and time separate the productive activity from the point of sale: logistics is in charge of uniting production and market through its techniques (Definicion.de, 2015).
Reverse logistics
Reverse logistics: it is the process of programming, implementing and controlling a flow of raw material, inventory in process, finished products and related information from the point of consumption to the point of origin in an efficient and economical way with the purpose of recover its value or that of the return itself (UNAM, 2005).
Purpose behind reverse logistics
Generally, the main interest of the companies was to get the product or material from the manufacturer to the customer. Whose importance lay in offering a quick response to their markets, maintaining the best supply lines that would allow them to achieve this objective, and only the possibility of global expansion for the improvement of this activity was visible on the horizon.
Afterwards, aspects such as after-sales service and establishing customer ties began to be taken into account. Taking responsibility for a sale already made has become a form of added value that makes any product more attractive to consumer perception. Returns are a well-known form of after-sales service: they are items that customers do not consider worthy of the investment they made and which are almost not considered as a factor that affects the customer-company relationship. In addition, the growing concern for the environment has led the recycling process to fame. Environmental awareness and concern for the well-being and conservation of natural resources sometimes seem to cause greater discontent in consumers than their own disagreements.In any case, what is appreciated are a few of the many manifestations of a type of material flow that has been called Reverse Logistics (Laila Cure Vellojín, 2006).
Reverse logistics processes
Reverse logistics processes focus on four key objectives:
- Reduction of virgin inputs. Recycling. Substitution of materials. Waste management.
In each of the business logistics processes, the four aforementioned approaches can be identified.
A.-Procurement and Purchases: the development of suppliers and the acquisition of raw materials, materials for packaging, components, packaging, packaging and handling units that are so to speak "environmentally friendly" are sought.
- Reduction of virgin inputs: implies product engineering activities, and retraining of human resources, with the purpose of: evaluating activities for the reuse of surplus materials, putting materials of recycled origin first, choosing containers, packaging, handling units, packaging and reusable and recyclable packaging, promoting the culture of “return”. Recycling: It is necessary to implement recycling policies respecting the performance and standards of the product: use recycled, recyclable materials of origin; explore technological innovations that allow the use of recycled materials; finance studies to reduce the use of virgin raw materials. Substitution of materials: Increasing the rate of innovation in recycling processes should promote the substitution of materials,in particular, the heaviest and lighter ones with equal or superior performance. Waste management: Materials procurement policies must assess the rate of waste in the use of materials; waste management is a non-negligible cost; It may also be necessary to have sample acceptance policies, if the demands for waste management of samples, or simply disposal by rejection, is expensive.It is expensive.It is expensive.
B.- Transportation and Traffic Management: Transportation and traffic management is a key process for reverse logistics. There are specialized operators in handling returns of reusable products. Transportation costs reach 25% of the total costs of reverse logistics. Hence the importance of optimizing its management.
- Reduction of virgin inputs: In the case of transport, this aspect is to be considered in the transport production itself: it is necessary to use recycled oil, remanufactured (or revulcanized) tires (or tires), as well as rebuilt filters, and batteries with lead derived from the recycling of discharged batteries. Recycling: For the transport of materials to be recycled, it is generally necessary to carry out a conditioning process to make better use of the transport units and reduce freight costs. Also, sometimes the regulations require pre-processing to reduce or control the dangerousness of waste. Waste management: For the final disposal of waste, it is advisable that the vehicles that transport it have certain capacities: compactors, granulators,mechanisms to aid classification as screens, facilitate adequate access to cargo for carrying out inspections, etc. Also, the transport of waste requires a "routing" that minimizes negative impacts on traffic and communities (emissions, noise), as well as integrated planning for the location decisions of landfill areas and / or industrial landfills.
C.-Storage and Inventories: This process in reverse logistics involves location, lay-out, infrastructure equipment for handling and pre-processing to store more adequately.
- Reduction of virgin inputs: In general, it is a matter of minimizing the number of warehouses, and reengineering to handle substitute materials. It is advisable to insist on outsourcing processes with specialized logistics operators. Recycling: Here it is a matter of separately handling the materials to be recycled from the waste. Different pre-processing equipment is often required; In general, those who handle the material to recycle can be investments of the logistics operator that will take care of them. Material substitution: Frequently this substitution occurs in the equipment of the warehouses: from more durable “racks”, with a better treatment of electrophoresis1 for metal parts, at the change of forklifts with combustion engines for those that use electricity that do not pollute. Waste management:The management of waste warehouses requires a strict FIFO2 operation and extreme care in the classification of hazardous or not.
D.- Container, Packaging and Packaging: These processes were the ones that were first taken into account at the beginning of reverse logistics. A lot of work has been done, and there is extensive experience.
- Reduction of virgin inputs: using containers, packaging among other recyclable materials is the best strategy for reducing household waste. It is a way of reducing the use of virgin inputs as much as possible, and reducing the generation of "garbage" that is discarded day by day. In addition, a program must be integrated that seeks to eliminate the need for packaging as much as possible, as well as packaging, reuse, avoid double packaging / packaging, improve the performance of the product-packaging system, lighten the container, design the container with fewer materials, increase the quantity of product offered to the consumer, among other actions, so as to reduce the need to use containers, packaging, packaging. Recycling: Regulations establish symbols to indicate which containers,Packaging and packaging are derived from recycled materials, are recyclable and are reusable. Substitution of materials: This is where the experience is broadest: from the change of glass for PET in bottles, to the change of wooden pallets (pallets) for others plastic. Waste management: Recycling technologies are innovated, reducing waste to dispose. However, for those that still have to be discarded, the technologies for the sanitary landfill also improve, or energy is recovered from incinerations, producing district heating (Antún, 2002).Recycling technologies are innovated, reducing waste to be disposed of. However, for those that still have to be discarded, the technologies for the sanitary landfill also improve, or energy is recovered from incinerations, producing district heating (Antún, 2002).Recycling technologies are innovated, reducing waste to be disposed of. However, for those that still have to be discarded, the technologies for the sanitary landfill also improve, or energy is recovered from incinerations, producing district heating (Antún, 2002).
Reasons for the recovery of products out of use (PFU)
The establishment of mechanisms for the recovery and use of the products discarded by consumers are mainly caused by two types of reasons: legal and economic (Lacoba, 2003).
Legal reasons: the pressures carried out by different social groups in demand of greater respect for the environment have caused that, in the most developed countries, public administrations are promoting a set of good environmental practices, which is reflected in an extensive legal system enacted in recent years.
Economic reasons The companies look for in the execution of their activities an added value and a business opportunity. In this sense, the economic reasons that drive companies towards the recovery and use of end-of-life products can be analyzed from two points of view: Demand and Supply (Olvera de Miguel & Méndez Palacios, 2010).
- From the point of view of demand, in the aspect in which the company could generate competitive differences through a positioning strategy seeking an image of an environmentally responsible company, which manufactures recyclable products from recovered materials, in which minimizes the generation of waste and the use of non-renewable raw materials, using clean technologies and integrating the supply chain (suppliers, suppliers, distributors and customers) in its environmental strategy From the point of view of supply, the recovery of materials and products no longer in use, would mean replacing the original raw materials and components with these recovered items,which could generate a decrease in manufacturing costs and / or in the sale price of these products (Bañegil, 2001). In this way, the concept of Economic Recovery can be defined as that process of PFU collection whose main objective is to take advantage of the added value that is incorporated into them, through the option of the appropriate work, so that it is obtained with This results in an economic profitability or causes sustainable competitive advantages to be obtained. This logistics system flows in the opposite direction to that existing in traditional logistics systems, from the producer to the consumer; that is why, considering this flow of materials, products and by-products from the consumer to the producer or recuperator,it is called the Reverse Logistics System (Sanchez-Yañez, 2008).
Two types of goods can be established that flow in reverse, the desired and the unwanted. Spam includes all items that go into reverse flow for unknown reasons, but usually because of consumer dissatisfaction, and their arrival is not predictable, as the company assumes it is delivering the best product to the customer without knowing, actually, what it is receiving. The so-called desired items are the product of after-sales agreements with the consumer, giving the consumer some advantages usually of exchange, replacement or, on some occasions, of purchase (economic benefits) (Laila Cure Vellojín, 2006).
Reverse logistics and competitiveness
Today's business can be summed up in one word, Trust. How well a return is handled in front of a customer helps to establish an image of security and trust in the consumer. The client is a key factor in the development of Reverse Logistics activities, due to the nature of its desire to consume as a necessary and sufficient condition for a product to remain on the market. The way in which the consumer perceives his supplier, the added value that he can offer him, the attention and responses that he provides according to his condition, are indisputably important factors at the time of the purchase decision (Laila Cure Vellojín, 2006).
Definition and forms of competitiveness
"A competitive advantage is any characteristic of the company that isolates it from direct competition within its sector" (Jarillo, 1989).
The competitive advantage comes from the value that a company is capable of creating and offering to its buyers, which exceeds the cost of that company to create it. There are three basic types of competitive advantage: cost leadership, differentiation, and niche focus (Porter, 1982).
Cost leadership. It implies having the lowest costs in the sector, but the product must be of a quality similar or equivalent to that of the competition.
Differentiation. A company seeks to be unique in its sector using certain dimensions that are widely valued by buyers, dedicating itself to satisfying these needs.
Focus on niche. It consists of choosing a specific market within a certain sector. The company that is focused adjusts its strategy to serve these consumers to the exclusion of others, seeking to achieve a competitive advantage in its target segment even though it does not have a general competitive advantage (Laila Cure Vellojín, 2006).
Advantages and Disadvantages of Reverse Logistics
Here are some of the advantages or potential benefits of implementing a Reverse Logistics program:
- Decrease in “surprise” or uncertainty in the arrival of PFUs. Reuse of some materials. Possibility of the company to cover other markets. Greater confidence in the customer when making the purchase decision. Significant improvement in the image of the company to consumers Obtaining feedback information about the product.
Instead of mentioning the following points as disadvantages, they have been called critical points or possible difficulties:
- Preliminary studies are required to establish decision policies on the subject. It is not just a simple manipulation of the product. All the departments of the company are related to the activities that are intended to be implemented by Reverse Logistics. to a Reverse Logistics process are “unpredictable.” Inspections must be carried out on each product individually and thoroughly. The new (reverse) chain includes a number of non-existent processes in direct logistics. It must be decided whether the company should carry out the different activities with its own resources or if, on the contrary, it will require the services of a specialized operator (3PL: third party logistics). Returns in small quantities tend to represent higher costs when integrated into the system.
conclusion
Each company has the idea that the customer is the most important, which generates an important factor when trying to establish policies that affect the relationship between them and the company or their interaction with the product and even the environment, that is why that when carrying out Reverse Logistics activities, a prior study must be made to know the economic-social reaction that will be had when implementing this strategy.
Any strategy that organizations intend to implement for their operation, usually has the primary objective of remaining in a market determined by their own activity. Who determines the feasibility of this permanence is the client; Your attitude towards the supplier will depend on your perception of the importance that the product / service deserves.
Thesis proposal
Development of Reverse Logistics strategies for the Municipality of Córdoba Veracruz.
objective
Develop strategies that through the use of reverse logistics, help the economy of this municipality, as well as develop another measure for the care of the environment.
Bibliography
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