Recycling and Purchasing Policies for Multiple Convertible Units

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Several regulations on the conversion of reusable products have been established in many countries due to the emphasis on environmental issues in manufacturing. Many companies consider reusable and returned items in addition to the purchase of new items. In this paper, we suggest several algorithms to determine the near-optimal quantities of items for converting and new items for purchasing. The reusable items are converted into end items, each facing a normally distributed demand in a single period of interest. We develop a genetic algorithm (GA) and a simulated annealing (SA) algorithm to compare the number of convertible units and new items to be purchased. A sensitivity analysis is performed, and computational results demonstrate the efficiency of the developed algorithms.