Today’s manufacturing companies are burdened with the pressures of managing their products throughout its life cycles and ensure that their products have minimum impact in the environment through Eco-design methods. This paper looks into the different Product Eco-evaluation methods in terms of Material Recyclability, Manufacturing Process and Disassemblability used for Eco-design, especially in the automobile industry. From these methods, the authors propose an Eco-Design framework suited for Malaysian local automobile SMEs given their limited role in Automobile design.
Abstract. This paper presents a study on product design optimization to reduce the environmental impact of machining. The objective is to analyze the effect of changing the product design parameters such as its dimensions, and basic features on the environmental impact of machining process in terms of its energy consumption, waste produced and the chemicals and other consumables used up during the process. To realize this objective, we used a CAD model of a product with different design scenarios, and analyze their energy consumption using an environmental impact calculator method developed. The waste produced, and the consumables used up, such as lubricants and coolants were analyzed using environmental emission factors. Optimization methods using Genetic Algorithm and Goal Programming are applied to the product design parameters in order to get the best possible product dimensions with the least environmental impact of the machining process.
Product recovery and life extension are critical activities in the cradle to cradle life cycle philosophy. These activities are very much dependent on the product's ability to be effectively disassembled into its component or even material constituents. Among the elemental task of disassembly is fastener removal. Thus, when considering the design for disassembly (DfD), many fastener associated factors need to be considered but very few DfD method effectively supports fastener selection especially in the early stage of design. The process of selecting a fastener for its functional requirement is already complex. Additionally, the requirements for disassemblability further complicate the process. This paper proposes the development of a multi criteria decision making model to assist designers in selecting fasteners for DfD. PROMETHEE method was used developing the decision making model for selecting fastener that considers both functionality and disassemblability. A design case study is described to reflect the usefulness of the fastener selection model.
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