Chapter 6: Application and Best Practices

Title: REST: The development of a Remanufacturing Energy Software Tool to assess product lifecycle energy totals over multiple lives

Author(s): Jie Gu, Andrew King

Address: King University of Bristol Bristol, UK, BS3 1TR | King University of Bristol Bristol, UK, BS3 1TR

Reference: International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management 2008 pp. 405 - 415

Abstract/Summary: Remanufacturing represents a higher form of reuse among various treatment types at the end of product life. However, with energy efficiency possibly becoming a legal requirement within the EU and a more pressing customer requirement, designers need to assess the lifecycle energy impact of remanufacturing. Our approach to enable "upgrading" during remanufacturing is a platform design strategy where energy stable components form a platform that remains between product lives. Components whose new design energy use is predicted to be reduced in the future are then built onto this platform so they can be removed and upgraded during remanufacturing. The focus of this paper is a presentation of the theoretical and mathematical approach that underpins the author's remanufacturing energy assessment tool. It then describes the operational stages of the tool through case study examples.

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