An integrated control policy for cost and waste minimization in unreliable hybrid manufacturing-remanufacturing systems

This paper addresses production-planning and control in a mixed-configuration hybrid manufacturing - remanufacturing system where one dedicated facility manufactures, while a second shared facility alternates - via setup operations - between manufacturing and remanufacturing modes. This configuration provides valuable flexibility and superior resource utilization but must still contend with capacity limits, stochastic demand and returns, machine failures, and setup-induced downtime. The objective is to establish an integrated control policy that synchronizes manufacturing, remanufacturing, setup, and disposal through hedging-point production rules and stock-threshold triggers for setup and disposal. A multi-objective simulation - optimization approach, combining response-surface methodology with a desirability function, optimizes the policy parameters to minimize total cost and disposed returns. Sensitivity experiments confirm robustness under different managerial priorities; emphasizing remanufacturing reduces waste, whereas favoring manufacturing mitigates stockouts and holding costs. These guidelines enable decision-makers to leverage the mixed configuration's capabilities while maintaining a practical balance between cost efficiency and sustainability in failure-prone environments.