The DBOM standard: a specification for efficient product data transfer between manufacturers and demanufacturers

In this paper we present the DBOM (Disassembly Bill of Materials) standard, which attempts to facilitate the transfer of product disassembly and recycling data from OEMs to the recycling community. We believe this standard will not only improve disassembly and recycling economics, but will also increase the number of product types that are demanufactured. The DBOM provides a representation of the physical structure of the product in a disassembly context. Our analysis reveals that to facilitate efficient disassembly, the DBOM must contain information about the parts, the fasteners, and the fastening structure. We present a standard coding structure for documenting and transmitting this knowledge. The DBOM part list is usually an aggregated version of the assembly bill of materials, since details about all parts is typically not required. We provide guidelines to determine whether a group of mating parts should be listed as one part in the DBOM. The DBOM also relates each part to a material recycling stream and provides an estimate of its purity. In the future we expect the product manufacturer to create and distribute the DBOM to potential collection and disassembly facilities through product labeling or a public access website.