Supply Chains in Reverse Logistics : The Process Approach for Sustainability and Environmental Protection

Currently, it is obvious that new types of production (Industry 4.0) are accompanying new ways of distribution, which advance logistics, physical distribution science, and even supply chain management. The changing environment for carrying out logistics activities is also important for the development of the supply chain. Care for ecology, the recent pandemic, and the situation in Ukraine are other reasons to adapt logistics to the needs of an individual customer/recipient. It would be impossible without developing an appropriate strategy and applying appropriate tools for managing supply chains in the national and international dimensions. This book specifically addresses these issues.

When analyzing the needs and structure of modern supply chains, in the context of their safety and risk reduction, it is impossible to ignore the problem of digitization, which allows for logistic analysis of the company, determining optimal routes, designing logistic systems, optimizing storage processes and costs, and predicting possible threats (crisis situations) and their effects (losses). IT support, automatic data exchange, e-logistics, telematics, traceability, and chatbots between various departments of the company along the upper and lower parts of the supply chain improve the flow of material and accompanying information through automation, robotization, proactivity, and document digitization. These new trends make it possible to define logistics as modern logistics using new achievements of science and technology.

Modern logistics must also consider ecological aspects in line with assumptions about protecting the environment and improving our climate. Efficiently organized reverse logistics is not without significance for ecology. It is supported by renewable energy, electric vehicles, proper education in the field of a closed economy, cleaner production, waste minimization, the use of passive infrastructure, and proper waste management that allows us to positively influence environmental protection and human health. To meet the needs of creating modern supply chains, the authors developed this powerful book in which they analyze and present current and future solutions that influence the development of these issues in modern reverse logistics.

Robert Stanisławski has been a Professor at the Department of European Integration and International Marketing of Faculty of Management and Production Engineering at the Technical University of Lodz since 2004. His research interests are involved in Logistics (new systems and artificial intelligence in logistics), European integration, the SME sector in Poland and Europe, and also the innovativeness (open innovation) of this sector in the Polish and European areas. His scientific publications include about 140 articles (authorship and co-authorship) at the national and international editions and many monographs, which were edited by him in Polish as well as English versions.

Andrzej Szymonik has the title of professor in the field of social sciences, and the degree of habilitated doctor in the field of management sciences - he obtained at the University of Warsaw. In the years 1972-2010, he performed military service, which he completed with the rank of brigadier general. He has extensive practical experience (over 25 years) in managing logistics in the domestic and foreign dimensions, taking into account threats and unplanned situations. He is the author and co-author of many books on logistics and security (details can be found at www.gen-prof.pl). He has similar achievements in published articles, the content of which is related to logistics, ecology, and security of supply chains. Currently, he works at the Lodz University of Technology, at the Faculty of Management and Production Engineering, at the Department of Production Management and Logistics, of which he is the head.