Life cycle implications of product modular architectures in closed-loop supply chains

Most of the product life cycle costs and environmental impacts are determined during product design stage. A product supply chain network can be seen as a system dealing with product life cycle processes. Ideally, a product should be designed to have a structure yielding a good life cycle performance in its existing supply chain network. However, there is a lack of research related to modeling supply chain effects in the product design stage. This paper aims at investigating the supply chain effects on product modular design. The life cycle performance of a modular structure (life cycle cost and life cycle environmental impact) at various supply chain states is evaluated by a supply chain evaluation model and analyzed by statistical techniques. The preliminary results indicate that the supply chain-related effects on product life cycle performance are significant and modular structure optimization is effective in reducing the surge of life cycle cost and life cycle environmental impact caused by various supply chain states. The main supply chain effects are identified for use in product design improvement.