ORIGINAL ARTICLE Determining the optimal quantity and quality levels of used product returns for remanufacturing under multi-period and uncertain quality of returns R. Aydin 1 & C. K. Kwong 1 & M. W. Geda 1 & G. E. Okudan Kremer 1 Received: 23 May 2017 /Accepted: 13 September 2017 # Springer-Verlag London Ltd. 2017 Abstract Managing product returns has been considered es- sential in the production planning and control of remanufacturing, as well as in the inventory control manage- ment of product returns. Uncertainties in the quantity and quality of returned products collected for remanufacturing could largely affect the profit generated from remanufactured products. However, determining the optimal quantity and quality levels of used products to be collected for remanufacturing in multiple periods under uncertain quality of the returns has not been properly addressed in previous studies. On the other hand, the effects of new product sales and demand for remanufactured products on used product returns, as well as the effect of quality of returns on the take- back and remanufacturing costs, have not been properly con- sidered in previous studies. In this paper, a novel methodology is proposed to determine the optimal product returns for remanufacturing with consideration of the uncertainty in the quantity and quality of returns and study the effects of new product sales and demand for remanufactured products on used product returns, as well as the effect of quality of returns on the remanufacturing cost. A case study of determining the optimal returns of tablet PCs is conducted to illustrate the proposed methodology. Keywords Remanufacturing . Uncertainty . Product returns . Multi-period models . Dynamic demand models 1 Introduction With the increase in global consumption and technological development, countless products are discarded before their end-of-life (EoL) every year. These wasted products often lead to environmental pollution and the loss of the remaining value of the used products. For example, consumer electronics (e.g., cellular phones and tablet PCs) have particularly high de- mands but short product life cycles [1]. Therefore, numerous of such products have immense potential for product recovery, which could help protect the environment and recover the value of discarded products. Recently, a growing focus on product recovery strategies has been observed throughout the entire product life cycle [2] because of stringent international legislations and gov- ernment regulations, increasing social concerns on environ- mental protection, and profit generation [3]. End-of-use products can be collected, recovered, and sold in markets as remanufactured products. De Giovanni and Zaccour [4] and Chuang et al. [5] examined closed-loop supply chain models with consideration of environmental and operational performances in which product collection is undertaken by manufacturers, retailers, and/or third-party firms. Akcali and Cetinkaya [6] conducted a review of product return models for inventory and production planning in a closed-loop sup- ply chain network under various demand conditions. Managing product returns has been considered to be essen- tial for the production planning and control and inventory control of remanufacturing [1, 7, 8]. Shaharudin et al. [8] conducted an empirical study to investigate the management of product returns in terms of manufacturing, distribution, and customer returns. Overall, considerable uncertainty ex- ists in the quantity, timing, and quality of the returned prod- ucts [9–11], which could largely affect the profit generated from remanufactured products. * C. K. Kwong c.k.kwong@polyu.edu.hk 1 Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA Int J Adv Manuf Technol DOI 10.1007/s00170-017-1141-0