Flexible manufacturing system for high-tech product with reworking, variable demand, and investment in carbon reduction

Due to the technological drift in the current century, environmental issues are associated with high-tech electronics products like tablets, Android phones, desktops, laptops, refrigerators, etc. Governments everywhere are taking initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint that these high-tech products leave behind during production process. Further, eco-friendly electronics items have significant impact on the demand of the customers. Current study develops a flexible manufacturing system for high-tech products, considering imperfect manufacturing processes. Reworking is considered in the model for imperfect items to reduce the waste from the system. Partial outsourcing of products is considered in the model because an imperfect manufacturing procedure hurts a manufacturer’s credibility in the marketplace. In this model, it is assumed that the demand of high-tech product is affected by its selling price and the amount of money invested in green technology to make it environmentally friendly. Several activities like setup preparation, production, deterioration, transportation, reworking, and carrying the products in stock result carbon emissions. To limit the carbon footprint, government governed regulatory body imposes carbon tax policy together with investment in green technology. An algorithm is built to find the optimal values for the decisive variables. To support the established model, numerical examples and sensitive analysis are provided. Managerial perspectives are also presented in the model. Analysis demonstrates that investing in green technology increases demand, and due to this, the profit of the system rises by 75%. In addition to this, it is observed that the adaptation of green technology reduces the carbon footprint by 5.5%, and due to this, the profit of the system increases. More outsourced items result in less profit for the system. Different elastic demand factors have a favorable effect on demand and system profitability.