A tool to implement sustainable end-of-life strategies in the product development phase

Abstract

Responding to constantly more demanding European legislation, notably for electrical and electronic equipment, worn-out vehicles or hazardous substances, manufacturers have to develop End of Life (EoL) strategies. The challenge today is to assess which “product EoL process” would be profitable for an enterprise given the business model in place. Most of the Original Equipment Manufacturers recycle or subcontract reverse logistic and EoL treatments. Recycling is currently the most common solution but it is far from meeting the goals of Sustainable Development. We believe that, integrating constraints from EoL strategies into the early phases of design is one important aspect that needs to be improved. We are currently combining this idea with principles from concurrent engineering to develop design aids which permits designers to compare their products to “Remanufacturable Product Profiles”. However, conscious those EoL solutions often involve several strategies; it is now envisaged to develop tools to help designers make optimal decisions while designing a product considering 3R strategies: Reuse, Remanufacture and Recycle. In this paper, our vision of why and how to integrate EoL strategies in the early design phases is presented, and what tools to apply 3R strategies are envisaged, considering the evolving architecture of the product, and the translation of transversal information into design criteria.