Develop a cost model to evaluate the economic benefit of remanufacturing based on specific technique

Remanufacturing is a process of recovering used products to a like-new condition. It can potentially achieve considerable economic, environmental and social benefits in many applications. However, its economic benefit varies for different products and remanufacturing processes. This research aims to develop a framework and cost model to quantitatively evaluate the benefits of remanufacturing techniques to assist the decision making on end-of-life strategies. Additive manufacturing-based remanufacturing process has been modelled first, then cost breakdown structure for the process has been created, and the cost model has been developed. Validation of the cost model has been conducted based on expert judgement, and a case study has been carried out by using the developed cost model to compare the benefit of remanufacturing a specified component or making a new one

An Integrated Tool for the Optimization and Simulation of Hybrid Product-Process Layouts

Part 12: Modular Design and Products and Configuration and Change ManagementInternational audienceThe design of a manufacturing process is a crucial phase for ensuring a profitable production. In particular, an appropriate layout for the facilities must be identified to minimize the impact of transporting manufacturing units throughout the shop-floor on both process performance and production cost. In a former work, a mathematical model capable to define process, product and hybrid layouts has been defined by minimizing the average distance travelled by each manufacturing unit. The present paper aims to present an integrated tool able to: (i) deploy the optimization model to autonomously evaluate the optimal layout proposal that fits with a set of input provided by the designer; (ii) evaluate a set of KPIs to assess the layout; (iii) compile a discrete event simulation model on FlexSim to enable the designer to evaluate layout performance in a multiplicity of operating scenarios