Intelligent Information Management, 2014, 6, 257-279 Published Online November 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/iim http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/iim.2014.66025 How to cite this paper: Aravendan, M. and Panneerselvam, R. (2014) An Integrated Multi-Echelon Model for a Sustainable Closed Loop Supply Chain Network Design. Intelligent Information Management, 6, 257-279. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/iim.2014.66025 An Integrated Multi-Echelon Model for a Sustainable Closed Loop Supply Chain Network Design Muthusamy Aravendan 1 , Ramasamy Panneerselvam 2 1 Department of Leather Design (Footwear & Products), National Institute of Fashion Technology, Chennai, India 2 Department of Management Studies, School of Management, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, India Email: aravendan@yahoo.com , panneer_dms@yahoo.co.in Received 3 September 2014; revised 2 October 2014; accepted 31 October 2014 Copyright © 2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract The integration of entire supply and value chain into a closed loop network is gaining more im- portance in recent times in order to ensure a business to be economically and environmentally sustainable with the changing trends in business and social environments, growing environmental consciousness in the society and government legislations to protect the environment as well as the business. In this context, this paper considers a multi-echelon closed loop supply chain network design with forward and reverse logistics components. An attempt has been made to develop a mixed integer non-linear programming model for this problem with different costs so that the sum of the total cost is minimized subject to different constraints pertaining to capacities of the entities of the system, demands of first customers and second customers. A generalized model is presented and then its application is illustrated using an example problem by solving the model using LINGO14. This model forms as a tool to compare future meta-heuristics to check the close- ness of their solutions with corresponding optimal solutions. Keywords Closed Loop, Forward, Integrated Model, Multi-Echelon, MINLP, Network Design, Responsiveness, Reverse, Sustainable 1. Introduction A supply chain network design is the most important strategic decision of supply chain management for any