Additive manufacturing technologies have become increasingly important in modern supply chains. Among these technologies, 3D printing offers new opportunities to improve the efficiency of reverse logistics operations. This study extends the integration of 3D printing and disassembly line balancing by explicitly considering carbon emissions generated during transportation activities. To this end, a novel optimization framework is proposed that coordinates end-of-life (EOL) product disassembly operations with environmentally sustainable distribution decisions. EOL products are disassembled at a disassembly centre, and the recovered components are used to satisfy demand. When the required number of components cannot be obtained through disassembly, additional components are produced using 3D printers. These components are then delivered to remanufacturing facilities by a fleet of capacitated vehicles. Unlike existing studies that primarily focus on economic performance, the proposed approach incorporates carbon emissions into routing decisions, enabling a more comprehensive evaluation of both economic and environmental objectives. To support environmentally sustainable logistics operations, the transportation process is modelled as a green vehicle routing problem in which both transportation costs and carbon emissions are considered. The integration of disassembly operations, 3D printing decisions, and green vehicle routing activities leads to a new problem called the Integrated Disassembly Line Balancing and Green Routing Problem with 3D Printers (I-DLB-GRP-3DP). A mixed-integer mathematical model is developed. Computational experiments are conducted under different operational conditions to evaluate the proposed approach. The proposed model contributes to the development of smart, efficient, and sustainable reverse supply chain networks.

Keywords

Disassembly line balancing, Additive manufacturing, Green vehicle routing, Smart manufacturing