Title: A method to assess the lifetime prolongation capabilities of products

Authors: B. Willems, W. Dewulf, J.R. Duflou

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

Abstract: To achieve a sustainable growth, it is necessary to pursue the decoupling of economic welfare from the use of virgin resources: a shift from a linear economy to a closed-loop economy is required. Consequently, adaptation processes such as maintenance, repair, upgrading and remanufacturing are needed. This paper presents a dedicated method to assess the lifetime prolongation capabilities of products by evaluating their design. The method determines the suitability of a product to undergo adaptation processes and the improvement potential within the design of a product, its components and joints, using an aggregated metric.

Keywords: design for adaptation; product life cycle; PLC; product design improvements; sustainable manufacturing; product design; product lifetime; design evaluation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSM.2008.019230

International Journal of Sustainable Manufacturing, 2008 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.122 - 144

Published online: 02 Jul 2008 *

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