Design for re-use and disassembly

Due to the short innovation cycles of electrical and electronic equipment there is a tremendous need to extend the life-time of these products. Life-time extension can be achieved through easily replaceable and reusable subassemblies or devices, which reduce the risks and costs of disassembling activities. However, at the moment end-of-life products are hardly reused due to the high disassembling costs, which are often corresponding to the complex product structure of EEE. Within the Strategic CARE initiative a consortium of different international companies and research organisations (Austria, Germany and Netherlands) was established in order to build a flexible semi-automatic disassembling cell "/spl Sigma/! 1592-Disassembly Factory" for extracting valuable components from printed wired boards (PWBs). In addition, design impacts for a concept of a "disassembly-oriented product structure" are studied.