Forward-reverse logistics network has remained a subject of intensive research over the past few years. It is of significant importance to be issued in a supply chain because it affects responsiveness of supply chains. In real world, problems are needed to be formulated. These problems usually involve objectives such as cost, quality, and customers' responsiveness and so on. To this reason, we have studied a single-objective model for an integrated forward/reverse logistics network design. This model includes seven echelons; four echelons in the forward direction and three in the reverse direction. We present an effective algorithm based on ant colony optimization for this NP-hard problems to maximize the benefit. The proposed metaheuristic algorithm is a new approach in the field of closed-loop supply chain network design. Furthermore, the developed model is a three-objective one which regards incomes, costs, and the emissions of CO2. A new approach is utilized in order to integrate three various-dimension objective functions. The performance of the proposed algorithm has been compared utilizing the optimum solutions of the LINGO software. Besides, various instances with small, medium, and large sizes are generated and solved so as to make the evaluation of the algorithm reliable. The obtaining results clearly demonstrate superiority performance of the proposed algorithm. تفاصيل المقالة

Many criteria have been presented so far for innovation measurement. Presenting the relation between input and output of innovation, completing other criteria and achieving more comprehensive criteria has also been raised. What is of vital importance is the right utilization of these criteria towards measuring innovation. This paper seeks to present a model to measure innovation that, in addition to the simplicity of its perception and measurement method, has an adequate comprehensiveness. The analyses are undertaken through two real case studies in automotive industry in Iran. The results show that Saipa automotive company should concentrate on Info-ware, Orga-ware and Human-ware while Iran-khodro automotive company needs to focus on Info-ware, Orga-ware and Techno-ware aspects to balance the innovation processes. تفاصيل المقالة