Design of household appliances considering remanufacturing: a case study

초록

Remanufacturing is a manufacturing technology that incorporates cost-effective energy savings and sustainability principles to improve the effective reuse of materials at the end-of-life. Leading global remanufacturing countries are promoting the remanufacturing market through the diversification of remanufactured items and the improvement of consumer reliability. Remanufacturing business can be value-added combining with the rental service which is so called product-service system (PSS). In particular, remanufactured home appliances can easily be applied as product-service business model. Initial important condition for successful remanufacturing is how the product is well designed for disassembly at its end of life. In general, the product is characterized at the initial stage of its development. So, it is necessary to apply the design considering remanufacture at the beginning of the product development if the product is planned to be remanufactured at its end of life. This paper thus presents a method to diagnose the structure of the product and extract the major improvement factors for easy disassembly. Also, the application of these factors to small household appliances in the product design stage is highlighted. The validity of the design methodology is also analyzed through the demonstration of the water purifier in terms of assemblability/ disassemblability, cleaning efficiency and processing time. © 2021, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

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