Conceptual framework for the design and management of value loops - application to a wheelchair allocation context

This article provides a conceptual framework for the design and management of value loops. A value loop is a logistics network that integrates reverse logistics activities related to the recovery of unused products, their retransformation and the redistribution of the reusable materials. The conceptual framework is elaborated based on the business process re-engineering experience for the wheelchair allocation, maintenance, recovery, retransformation and redistribution context in the Province of Quebec, Canada, governed and managed by a government agency. This framework addresses all the significant generic decisional levels, from the identification of the customers' expectations or needs, to the design and management of the logistics networks, processes and products from a life cycle perspective, to activity planning and scheduling. The decisional levels are mainly characterised according to the reverse logistics activities. Their implementation is illustrated within the wheelchair context in the Province of Quebec. A brief discussion on the roles of the involved network parties is made from this context.