Contents - Akademi Sains Malaysia

ASM Science Journal, Volume 7(1), 2013Additionally, a study done in the United States treatedthat closed supply chain and reverse supply chain asequivalent and suggested that collection,inspection/separation,reprocessing, disposal, distribution are fivemain groups of activities conducted (Kumar & Malegenat2006). Collection is the process that consists of all activitiesrelated to used items (product, component, or material)available and physically moving them to some point forfurther treatment which may involve product acquisition,transportation and storage. While, undergoing inspectionor separation is may involve testing, disassembly, sorting,shredding and storage; in this activity, the material orcomponents will be split for various recovery and disposaloptions (Kumar & Malegenat 2006).Re-processing is occurring in the reusable flow, theactual transformation of a used item will go through into areusable item of some kind; based on the recovery optionchosen, this covers various activities such as disassembly,shredding, repair, replacements, etc. (Kumar & Malegenat2006). While disposal is a process where the non-reusableflows are disposed off to landfills and incinerators.Besides, the re-distribution process which is containing thereusable items directing to be marketed to new markets,and physically moving them to potential new users.This involves transportation, sales activities, and storage(Kumar & Malegenat 2006).A study done in Canada purposed a close loop supplechain model (Figure 4) as a mechanism for manufacturingsmall- and medium-sized enterprises because of theincrease in waste generated from manufacturing operationsare attracting increased attention in industrializedcountries (Talbot 2007), due in part to depleting landfillsand incineration capacities (Guide et al. 2003). Thismechanism involves combining traditional forward supplychain activities and reverses supply chain activities into asingle system (Krikke et al. 2004) with the potential andhas capabilities to raise the environmental performance ofindustrial operations to a new standard (Pappis et al. 2004)and to make new profit opportunities and competitiveadvantages for supply chain participants and contributors;this mechanism also consists of holistic product life-cycleconcepts (Ferrer & Whybark 2003).CONCLUSIONSThere are several critical issues and challenges related toCWM practices which could be described as the currentsituation in this area of study where the waste generateddirectly was disposed to landfills without being separatedinto constituent parts. There was also no mechanism forrecovery processes, reuse and recycling. There was a lack ofgovernment legal enforcement and the existing legislationdid not adequately facilitate CWM in an effective direction.Specific regulations, guidelines and sufficient budgetaryallocations for CWM were not available.A review on the supply chain showed that all themechanisms focused on construction and manufacturingwere in perspective, thus further research was requiredon current practices, issues and challenges in Malaysia, toassist and improve CWM.VIV2 V3 V4 V5After-salesservicesMarketing,sales anddistributionProcurementand productionDesign andengineeringR&DForward supply chain (FSC)Reverse Supply Chain (RSC)Incinerationand landfillMaterialrecyclingRemanufactureandcomponentextractionRe-use,repair,upgradeRecovery,tests anddismantlingV10 V9 V8 V7 V6Figure 4. Closed loop supply chain model.64