Modularity and Ease of Disassembly: Study of Electrical and Electronic Equipment

A common recommendation when designing for disassembly is to develop more modular products. The common belief is that an increase in modularity will systematically reduce the time required in order to disassemble the product, reducing the cost of the process. This paper studies the statistical relationship between these two concepts by comparing 15 different electrical products. Modularity and disassembly performance are assessed by different indicators each and their correlation is analyzed. The results show that the aforementioned relationship cannot be statistically proven and, for some of the cases, even inverse correlation is found. Factors such as product structure or selected end-of-life strategy are more important than modularity in end-of-life performance. Systematic modularization can even result in products with a worse behavior: For most electrical equipment, generating modules from a functional or manufacturing point of view will most probably result in worse end-of-life performance. It is only for modules with very specific properties that performance can be guaranteed.

[1]  Andrew Kusiak,et al.  Integrated product and process design: A modularity perspective , 2002 .

[2]  John K. Gershenson,et al.  Questioning the Direct Relationship between Product Modularity and Retirement Cost , 2002 .

[3]  Nancy L. Leech,et al.  IBM SPSS for Intermediate Statistics: Use and Interpretation, Fifth Edition , 2014 .

[4]  Pedro Rios,et al.  A symbolic methodology to improve disassembly process design. , 2003, Environmental science & technology.

[5]  Nancy L. Leech,et al.  SPSS for Introductory Statistics : Use and Interpretation, Second Edition , 2004 .

[6]  John K. Gershenson,et al.  Product modularity: Definitions and benefits , 2003 .

[7]  Steven D. Eppinger,et al.  Identifying Modular and Integrative Systems and Their Impact on Design Team Interactions , 2003 .

[8]  Steven J Skerlos,et al.  Multi-criteria decision-making for optimization of product disassembly under multiple situations. , 2003, Environmental science & technology.

[9]  Karl T. Ulrich,et al.  Product Design and Development , 1995 .

[10]  Kazuhiro Saitou,et al.  Design for Disassembly With High-Stiffness, Heat-Reversible Locator-Snap Systems , 2008 .

[11]  Nancy L. Leech,et al.  SPSS for introductory statistics : use and interpretation , 2010 .

[12]  M. H. Wang,et al.  ECONOMICAL EVALUATION OF DISASSEMBLY OPERATIONS FOR RECYCLING, REMANUFACTURING AND REUSE , 1998 .

[13]  E. Zussman,et al.  Evaluating the end-of-life value of a product andimproving it by redesign , 1997 .

[14]  Surendra M. Gupta,et al.  Disassembly sequence plan generation using a branch-and-bound algorithm , 2001 .

[15]  Marco Santochi,et al.  A disassembly planning software system for the optimization of recycling processes , 2001 .

[16]  David W. Rosen,et al.  Implications of Modularity on Product Design for the Life Cycle , 1998 .

[17]  Simon Richir,et al.  Is it possible to evaluate the recovery potential earlier in the design process? Proposal of a qualitative evaluation tool , 2005 .

[18]  Nick Jones,et al.  Towards self-disassembling vehicles , 2003 .

[19]  Tsai C. Kuo,et al.  Disassembly sequence and cost analysis for electromechanical products , 2000 .

[20]  Rahul Rai,et al.  Disassembly sequence generation: A Petri net based heuristic approach , 2002 .

[21]  Daniel A. McAdams,et al.  A Modular Design Approach to Support Sustainable Design , 2004 .

[22]  John K. Gershenson,et al.  Product modularity: measures and design methods , 2004 .

[23]  Maurizio Cellura,et al.  Eco-sustainable energy and environmental strategies in design for recycling: the software “ENDLESS” , 2003 .

[24]  Y. Zhang,et al.  An Initial Study of Direct Relationships between Life-Cycle Modularity and Life-Cycle Cost , 2003, Concurr. Eng. Res. Appl..

[25]  Sridhar Kota,et al.  A Metric for Evaluating Design Commonality in Product Families , 2000 .

[26]  Andrew Kusiak,et al.  Modularity in design of products and systems , 1998, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Part A.

[27]  David G. Ullman,et al.  The Mechanical Design Process , 1992 .

[28]  Surendra M. Gupta,et al.  Petri net approach to disassembly process planning for products with complex AND/OR precedence relationships , 2001, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[29]  Surendra M. Gupta,et al.  Disassembly line in product recovery , 2002 .

[30]  Nam P. Suh,et al.  principles in design , 1990 .

[31]  A. Lambert.  Determining optimum disassembly sequences in electronic equipment , 2002 .

[32]  S. G. Lee,et al.  A Multi-Objective Methodology for Evaluating Product End-of-Life Options and Disassembly , 2001 .

[33]  Roope Takala,et al.  A decomposition of the end of life process , 2006 .

[34]  Kazuhiro Saitou,et al.  High-Stiffness, Lock-and-Key Heat-Reversible Locator-Snap Systems for the Design for Disassembly , 2009 .

[35]  Wolfgang Beitz,et al.  Engineering Design: A Systematic Approach , 1984 .

[36]  P. Gu,et al.  Product modularization for life cycle engineering , 1999 .