While the use of Returnable Transport Items (RTI) is a common practice in supply chains committed to sustainability. An efficient RTI circulation mechanism must be implemented to ensure the profitability of the approach. Within this context, this paper presents a deposit-refund system (DRS) designed for RTI circulation to maximize supply chain profitability. The profit optimization analysis considered three scenarios: the vendor's profit, there tailer's profit, and the overall system profit. Tailored solution strategies are developed for each case, considering retail price components, and leading to the identification of the optimal deposit amount required to maximize RTI circulation. We further examinehow the retail price affects the profits of supply chain actors relative to the RTI return rate and studystudy how changes in return rates influence the profit patterns of supply chain actors. The results are scrutinized via several sensitivity analyses, leading to important implications for the design of deposit-refund systems for RTI. We for example find that the vendor's wholesale price has a significant effect in establishing the decision-maker's optimal policy in designing a DRS for RTI circulation. In other words, the wholesale price is a key component in assessing the economic viability and determining the deposit amount for RTI. Moreover, through a couple of hypothetical, butrealistic cases of RTI applications considering specific parameter settings, we shown that the vendor's position can be either significant or insignificant dependong on the difference between the value of the RTI and that of the goods it holds.

中文翻译：

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用于管理可退回运输物品的经济循环的押金退款系统


在致力于可持续发展的供应链中，使用可回收运输物品 (RTI) 是一种常见做法。必须实施高效的RTI循环机制来保证该方法的盈利能力。在此背景下，本文提出了一种专为RTI流通而设计的押金退款系统（DRS），以最大限度地提高供应链盈利能力。利润优化分析考虑了三种情况：供应商的利润、零售商的利润和整个系统的利润。针对每种情况制定量身定制的解决方案策略，考虑零售价格组成部分，并确定最大化 RTI 流通所需的最佳存款金额。我们进一步研究零售价格如何影响供应链参与者相对于RTI退货率的利润，并研究退货率的变化如何影响供应链参与者的利润模式。结果通过多项敏感性分析进行审查，对 RTI 押金退款系统的设计产生重要影响。例如，我们发现供应商的批发价格对决策者在设计 RTI 流通的 DRS 时制定最优政策有显着影响。换句话说，批发价格是评估经济可行性和确定 RTI 押金金额的关键组成部分。此外，通过考虑特定参数设置的几个假设但现实的 RTI 应用案例，我们表明供应商的地位可能重要也可能不重要，具体取决于 RTI 价值与其持有的商品价值之间的差异。