A review of research towards computer integrated demanufacturing for materials recovery

Abstract

The recovery of both toxic and non-toxic materials from billions of end-of-life electronics calls for efficient processes and exploration of opportunities for computer integrated demanufacturing for materials recovery. To date, recycling automation for selective disassembly has been limited by the proliferation of product designs, the difficulty of acquiring product feature and material content information, and the lack of integration of collection and demanufacturing processing. Product designs with standard modules and standard fasteners would improve the options for more automated disassembly. Making product structure and material composition information from a product design profile available will support planning models, Petri net algorithms and control models for demanufacturing, as well as integrated manufacturing and demanufacturing. Advances in imaging and materials identification techniques as well as more flexible technologies to separate materials may provide new opportunities for expert Petri net approaches for selective robotic disassembly. Linking end-of-life product service demand information will enhance scheduling for demand-driven demanufacturing. Nonetheless, the random arrival of so many different product sizes and design structures will require new approaches to designing reverse logistics networks and linking their activities. The present paper reviews the research to automate materials recovery planning and control, identifies challenges, and discusses directions for future research.