The economic lot-sizing problem with remanufacturing and one-way substitution

We investigate a lot-sizing problem with different demand streams for new and remanufactured items, in which the demand for remanufactured items can be also satisfied by new products, but not vice versa. We provide a mathematical model for the problem and demonstrate it is NP-hard, even under particular cost structures. We also show the key role that remanufacturing plays in the problem resolution. With the aim of finding a near optimal solution of the problem, we develop and evaluate a Tabu-Search-based procedure. The numerical experiment carried out confirms the success of the procedure for different cases.