Product innovation for sustainability: on product properties for efficient disassembly

Due to increasing societal awareness, nowadays companies need to consider environmental issues in their business activities. A requirement that has entered the agenda is the design of products to support efficient end‐of‐life management. However, though previous research has addressed various disassembly aspects there is a need for more understanding on which product properties are essential for efficient disassembly processes. Better understanding is also required regarding when, during the product development process, these properties are established. On the basis of empirical studies of disassembly of electrical and electronic equipment and vehicles, this paper suggests a number of product properties that are essential for efficiency of the disassembly process. Furthermore, the paper analyses when these properties are set in the product development process. Four product properties, denoted disassembly properties, have been identified: ease of identification; accessibility; ease of separation; and ease of handling. The analysis shows that these properties are affected during all product development phases. Especially in the early phases it is crucial to consider the disassembly properties in order to avoid unnecessary and costly design changes that may occur in the later development phases if the design solutions are pulled in the wrong direction.

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