Selective disassembly sequencing: A methodology for the disassembly of end-of-life products

Disassembly planning has become an important strategic issue in order to reduce the environmental impact and increase the value of end-of-life (EOL) products. However, in order to make the recovery of EOL products viable, optimal disassembly sequencing has to be determined for each reusable component. In this paper, a selective disassembly methodology for EOL products is presented, which was developed by reversing and modifying the methodology developed by Nevins and Whitney (1989) for assembly. In the new methodology, the disassembly sequence generation and selective part recovery are largely performed by a special computer software. A number of product case studies were used to prove the concept and demonstrate the efficiency of the methodology.