Optimization analysis for recycle-oriented manufacturing systems

Recycling has been recently recognized as one of effective tools for solving environmental problems. In this respect present and future manufacturing systems should take the recycling of materials used into consideration. This paper points out the issues contained in such a recycle-oriented manufacturing system, then the basic parts-flow in the product's life cycle is clarified by taking account of re-use and re-production of the parts contained in the product. A model is constructed to maximize two measures of performance—total profit and recycling rate. This is solved by goal programming. Finally, a numerical example is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the model proposed.