Economic modelling of robotic disassembly in end-of-life product recovery for remanufacturing

The key to fully achieving the benefits of remanufacturing lies in the efficient and cost-effective reuse of components from end-of-life (EoL) products. Unlike recycling and disposal, remanufacturing contributes to a firm’s profits and reduces environmental impacts. Maximising the economic value of recovery options while meeting environmental regulations is of prime importance. This paper proposes a novel model to design the robotic disassembly process (RDP) for EoL products. An optimisation decision-making model has been designed to find the near-optimal solution that achieves the best economic performance of the process while simultaneously yielding the optimal disassembly level, or “stopping point”, disassembly sequence plan, and recovery option for the components in a framework. Furthermore, the model helps the robotic cell to re-plan the ongoing disassembly process. To do so, it recalculates the economic outputs, making decisions about the re-planned optimal disassembly level and the reassigned recovery option for the components: reuse, remanufacturing, recycling or disposal. The model was been tested using a case study based on a gear pump. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model and provide insights into recovery practices for remanufacturing.