Enhancing supply chain operations through effective classification of warranty returns

Purpose – To show that handling warranty returns is essential in a supply chain for product/process improvement and that the major step in resolving warranty return problems is to correctly classify the returned parts and identify the problem(s). Design/methodology/approach – Demonstrates two classification processes that separate available warranty returned parts into correct categories. Findings – The result of these two processes provides pertinent parties in the supply chain more accurate warranty failure information, so the companies involved can precisely pin‐point the source of the failure cause in the products and improve the product's design and manufacturing. Meanwhile, it also resolves potential conflicts in a supply chain and assigns responsibility to the right party to cover incurred warranty repair cost. Its applications can enhance quality and reliability management in a supply chain and streamline the reverse logistics operations in the chain. Originality/value – This paper offers companies an effective procedure in reducing wrongly classified warranty returns and makes root cause analysis of warranty returns more efficient.