Development of robust design-for-remanufacturing guidelines to further the aims of sustainable development

Abstract

Key manufacturing challenges include pollution, natural resource depletion, waste management and landfill space. Remanufacturing, a process of bringing used products to a 'like-new' functional state with warranty to match, is being regarded as a vital strategy in waste management and environmentally conscious manufacturing. There is a paucity of remanufacturing knowledge, particularly in design-for-remanufacturing (DFRem) because of its relative novelty in research terms. This paper outlines the elements of the remanufacturing concept, details existing design-for-remanufacturing research and describes findings from recent UK industrial case studies undertaken to verify and augment previous research. It proposes some fundamental steps required to build on past work to improve the robustness of DFRem methodologies

Addressing decision making for remanufacturing operations and design-for-remanufacture

“…There appears to be a lack of DFRem guidelines based on life-cycle thinking, that simultaneously consider products' dissimilar life-cycle profiles and the impact of proposed remanufacturability enhancement product features on initial manufacture. Table 4 shows part of a high level remanufacturing design guide developed by the author as a precursor to the robust DFRem guide proposed in [33]. The design guide was developed in a similar manner to the solutions presented in Table 3.…”

Opportunities for Industry 4.0 to Support Remanufacturing

“…For example, when information regarding computer-aided design (CAD), bill of materials, parts information, manufacturing and assembly instructions, data from product use stage, and repair history information are stored in a central system and are easily accessible by remanufacturers, the repair decisions during the remanufacturing process could be made easily and operations could be carried out in a more efficient manner. Furthermore, when information, such as product failure modes and rates, replacement frequency, cleaning efficiency, disassembly challenges, and upgrading challenges, is extracted effectively from the remanufacturing stage and fed back to product designers, many of the barriers occurring during the remanufacturing process could be avoided in the next generation of products by incorporating proper design features [9][10][11][12]. This is strategically important and a substantial cost-saving measure, as more than 70% of product costs are determined at the product development stage [13].…”

Identifying Unique Characteristics of Disassembly for Various Product Recovery Methods with A Focus on Remanufacturing

“…Further adding to the complexity of discussion is differences between the work content, warranty and quality of output in a remanufacturing context compared to disassembly for repair, reconditioning or recycling [24]. The differences between the three recovery methods, in terms of these parameters, are presented graphically in Figure 1.…”