|
Venue: PQ303
Time: 09:40-10:20 July 8, 2025
Title: Unlocking Furniture Circularity: Unsolved Problems for AI-empowered Logistics and Supply Chain Problem
Abstract:The global furniture industry is a vast and growing market, valued at over $700 billion, and consumes enormous amounts
of raw materials such as wood, metal, plastics, and fabrics. However, a significant portion of furniture is produced by SMEs, which
often lack the capacity or systems to manage the post-consumer stage. Current business models primarily focus on large enterprises that
collect only their own-brand products, while the majority of furniture ends up in municipal collection systems that rely mainly on recycling
or incineration—generating minimal value. Peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms offer partial solutions, but they are effective only for items that
are almost as good as new, which represent just 30% of discarded furniture. As a result, only less than 1% of furniture waste is reused today.
To address this gap, there is a critical need to design scalable business models capable of enabling all-brand collection, refurbishment,
and resale. AI technologies—including digital product passports, real-time image processing, online decision-making, and dynamic pricing—offer
powerful tools to assess item conditions, optimize logistics, match supply with demand, and unlock significant economic and environmental
are almost as good as new, which represent just 30% of discarded furniture. As a result, only less than 1% of furniture waste is reused today.
value from this currently lost resource stream.
In this presentation, we take a journey through the post-consumer furniture landscape, introducing existing business models and highlighting
unresolved challenges, with a focus on how recent technological advancements—particularly in AI—may offer viable solutions.
About the speaker:
Reza Zanjirani Farahani is a Full Professor of Supply Chain Management at the Paris School of Business (PSB). Over his distinguished academic career,
he has held positions at institutions such as Rennes School of Business, Kingston University London, Cambridge Judge Business School, the National University
of Singapore (in collaboration with Kyoto University, Japan), Amirkabir University of Technology, and Sharif University of Technology.
Reza has authored nearly 100 journal articles in leading publications, including Production and Operations Management (POMJ), Manufacturing &
Service Operations Management (MSOM), European Journal of Operational Research (EJOR), International Journal of Operations & Production Management (IJOPM),
Transportation Research Part E (TR-E), and International Journal of Production Economics (IJPE). His research focuses on practice-based problem-solving in
operations, logistics, and supply chain management, spanning industries such as disaster management, healthcare, urban logistics, maritime, energy, the circular
economy, and agri-food systems.
He holds editorial leadership roles as Senior Editor for POMJ, Decision Sciences, and Service Science, Co-Editor-in-Chief of TR-E, and board member of IJOPM,
International Journal of Production Research (IJPR), and IEEE TEMS. He has also chaired major conferences, including POMS Brighton (2019) and POMS Paris (2023).
As an educator, Reza is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (UKHEA) and holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education
(PGCLTHE).
His teaching consistently receives outstanding evaluations. He has mentored numerous Ph.D. students, many of whom hold academic positions at prestigious institutions
in the UK, the USA, and Canada.
Reza has secured substantial research funding as both a Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator, including EU Horizon projects and regional collaborations with organizations
such as Rennes Métropole. He serves as a work package leader in a €5 million EU Horizon research and innovation project on textile circularity, commencing in 2025.
|
