Computer-based product structure analysis for technical goods regarding optimal end-of-life strategies

The environmental consciousness of customers as well as legislative regulations force producers to consider the product end of life within the product design. Consequently, additional design aspects are leading to the need for specific support tools, which enable design for disassembly and recycling. The approach presented shows a computer-based methodology for a product structure analysis regarding the determination of economically optimal end-of-life strategies for technical goods. Based on a product model, a model of end-of-life processes and a simulation of disassembly, the economically optimal end-of-life strategy of a complex product is calculated. Owing to the huge number of disassembly options of complex products, some methodical approaches for the reduction of computation efforts have been developed. Further approaches for the detection of improvement potentials regarding the product end-of-life behaviour consider the product structure, the joining technique and the material compatibility. The different aspects are analysed and compared with the modelled end-of-life processes using special characteristic values. The methodologies developed have been implemented in a software tool that contains the respective input interface, performs the computations and displays models and results mainly in a graphical manner.