Design for product retirement and material life-cycle

Abstract

Life-cycle design seeks to maximize the life-cycle value of a product at the early stages of design, while minimizing cost and environmental impact. This paper focuses on product retirement and advanced planning for material recycling. Design for product retirement (DFPR) applies to retirement strategies, i.e. designers' intent for product disassembly and reprocessing of subassemblies and components. The method combines quantitative cost formulae and qualitative guidelines to determine the feasibility and cost benefits of a candidate retirement plan. Material life-cycle analysis (MLCA) addresses essential knowledge used by DFPR, i.e. assessment of residual value of a material when recycled under a certain scenario. For plastic components, we have been developing a standard for evaluating the residual mechanical strength of materials recycled from various product histories and assessing necessary processes to remedy the degradation. This standard, combined with other material compatibility information and disassembly knowledge, makes DFPR a viable tool for life-cycle design. The paper illustrates our prototype computer tool for DFPR using an example from the computer industry.