Application of agent technology for recycling‐oriented product assessment

Abstract

PurposeThe paper aims to describe ideas and implementation of the computer tool for computer‐aided and recycling‐oriented design. Currently, there is a strong tendency to take into account the impact of a product on the natural environment. The authors concentrated on the issue of the recycling process of the product, taking into account the phase of its design. The purpose, structure, technology and example results are presented in this paper.Design/methodology/approachIt was assumed that analysis will be performed based on a set of measures of a product. These measures (developed by the authors), describing the product from the recycling point of view, are calculated automatically, according to the changes (variants) in the product's model. The presented tool is based on agent technology. The structure of the system – the agents, its roles and communication between them – has been described.FindingsThe main achievement of the work presented in this paper is the method supporting eco‐design based on agent technology. Based on the analysis of the process of recycling‐oriented eco‐design, the authors designed and then implemented the tool that aids designers' activities in the area of eco‐design. The drawn‐up method supports decision making concerning designing environmental‐friendly products. Thanks to agent technology, the design process can be conducted in the distributed design environment.Research limitations/implicationsThe usage of the presented computer‐aided and recycling‐oriented system during the design process requires the duplication of some of the engineer's work. The analysis is performed within the presented tool, outside the typical contemporary design environment, such as CAD 3D systems. As a consequence, there is a need to enter the product structure into the described system, which can be inconvenient. The further work of the authors assumes implementation of this concept into a CAD 3D system.Originality/valueThere has been a limited amount of research work regarding application agent technology in the field of end‐of‐life oriented design. The structure of the system, the measurements and idea of extension of product structure are the original results of the work. The results could be implemented into commercial computer‐aided design systems, especially into its PLM (product lifecycle management) group, due to the weak representation of end‐of‐life phases in these tools.

Automatization of the Ecodesign Process of Small Household Appliances based on CAD 3D System

“…It belongs to the group of software discussed above, but it allows designers to carry out the recyclability assessment of the selected product in different CAD 3D systems [5,19]. The main assumptions of authors' methodology are described in the next chapter.…”

“…They are based on the recycling product model (RpM). The distinguishing feature of proposed method is the use of the agent technology described in details in previous publications [5,24,25].…”

“…The main determinants, divided into internal and external factors, are described in the authors' previous papers [4,5].…”

Multi-agent system to support decision-making process in design for recycling

“…The terms "decentralized artificial intelligence" and "agent" emerged in the literature in the early 1980s, but dynamic development of IT solutions based on this paradigm ensued in the mid-1990s of the twentieth century. The interpretations of the agent's role are diverse (Brenner et al 1998;Caglayan and Harrison 1998;Rao and Georgeff 1991;Wooldridge 1999) but undoubtedly have the following common features (Dostatni et al 2013):…”

Forecasting of steel consumption with use of nearest neighbors method

“…That is why it is important to ensure high quality of products and services, suited to his needs and expectations, as well as supplying them in an acceptable time. In this point of view, improvement of processes inside a company [1, 2,3], limitation of wastage [4,5], shortening of a production cycle [6] and changeover times, minimization of distribution costs and improvement of quality of offered services have become the primary goals of organizations. Realization of these goals should be performed in connection with application of newest achievements in science and technologynew technologies on one hand, but also methods of decision-making on the other hand [7,8,9].…”