This case study shows the implementation of a highly innovative re-use and recycling system for waste of electric and electronic equipment (WEEE). This so-called multi life cycle centre will make use of the latest development in automation and information technology in order to obtain an efficient economical and ecological process. In this centre, implemented as pilot plant in Vienna, Austria, WEEE will be transformed back into valuable products. The product groups treated for re-use include IT and telecommunication equipment, consumer electronics, electrical and electronic tools, toys and leisure equipment. Regarding all other product groups the collection and recycling will be organized. The management of the reverse logistic system is based on RFID technology (radio frequency identification). The multi life cycle centre follows the philosophy to recover WEEE at the highest possible level, starting with re-use of the whole product down to the subassembly and component level and finally to the recycling of materials. This approach is unique in the world and we are going to prove that an eco-efficient re-use of WEEE on a large scale can be feasible by using highly sophisticated technologies. The presented paper gives an overview of the various functions of the multi life cycle centre and highlights two key technologies: semi automatic disassembling and reverse logistic based on RFIDs.
Due to the fast pace of technological innovation, and the consequent shortening lifetimes of electronic products, particularly ICT equipment, a,flexible semi-automatic disassembling cell "/spl Sigma/! 1592 - Disassembly Factory" for extracting components from printed wire boards (PWB) has been developed. Based on these disassembling experiences design criteria for a re-use optimized structure of PWBs and electronic components have been defined in order to maximize the benefit for economy and environment. If industry becomes aware of the elaborated design criteria and uses these investigations, number of reusable components can be achieved and enhanced significantly hand in hand with the improved quality and positive feedback regarding landfill volume and depletion of primary materials.
Nowadays printed wire boards (PWB) appear in nearly every electr(on)ic appliance. Together with the fast pace of technological innovation and the consequent shortening of the product lifetime, this leads to a rapidly growing waste stream of electronic products. Therefore, solutions for what to do at the end-of-life are urgently required. The intention of this paper and the elaborated design guidelines for PWBs is to maximize the recovery rate of components at the highest possible level of quality. The guidelines address the layout of PWBs, important properties of components and integrated circuits, connection technologies and etc. The checklist will help product designers to identify the most important aspects in terms Of reusability and environmentally conscious design of PWBs.
If we consider the huge amounts of WEEE (Waste from electrical and electronic equipment) which will become available for recovery we have to strengthen various end-of-life possibilities such as upgrade, re-use, recondition, re-manufacture, resale or recycling of materials. The quality of these end-of-life possibilities are decisively determined by the quality of the logistic systems. Today the end-of-life electric and electronic equipment is mostly regarded as scrap and treated like it is usual for scrap-in a destructive way. This makes it impossible to re-use equipment, components and parts. This paper describes the development of a logistic solution which meets the demands for several re-use strategies and also increases the effectiveness in material recycling
The presented project is aimed at developing strategies of turning the existing system into product service system (PSS) in order to stop the trend of shortening lifetimes of IT products and to significantly reduce the amount of waste out of this sector. A product service system consists of tangible products and intangible services, designed and combined so that they jointly are capable of fulfilling specific customer needs. It tries to reach the goals of a sustainable development, which means improved economic, environmental and social aspects. The goal of this project has been to offer customers in Vienna a service that would provide the same value as the purchase and ownership of a product and to explore the necessary conditions for creation of such service system in Vienna.
Today electronic products are often regarded as scrap after their "first" use-phase (regardless of whether they are disposed of or not by the end-user), but in many cases, electronic equipment which is no longer useful to the original purchaser still has value for others or is still useful for other applications.In a one month pilot run IT equipment was collected from retail stores in Germany and Austria and sent for re-use to Austria. In order to get the most value out recycling options at the highest possible level have been used.
Following the short innovation cycles in electronic appliances it becomes more and more important to prevent this equipment or parts of it to change into waste and final disposal. The goal is to extend the life time of electronic products in order to decrease the environmental impact. This case study focused therefore on designing PWBs (printed wire boards) for maximum reusability of the components as well as aspects for a better separation of hazardous components on a PWB. The project became possible by building a flexible semi-automatic disassembling cell "/spl Sigma/! 1592-Disassembly Factory" within the Strategic CAPE initiative for extracting valuable components from printed wire-boards (PWB).
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.
Design for Environment (DFE) is becoming more and more important, especially as there is a tremendous need to increase resource productivity because of the decreasing capacities of non renewable resources. One way to achieve this goal is to enhance a product's lifetime.Therefore the Austrian Society for Systems Engineering and Automation started to build a demonstration plant within the Strategic CARE initiative: "Sigma! 1592 -Disassembly Factory".The idea of this project is to develop a flexible semiautomatic disassembling cell for extracting valuable and reusable components from printed circuit boards [PCB]. Furthermore design impacts for a concept of a "disassembly-oriented product structure" will be investigated, This paper illustrates how the experiences of the Disassembly Factory will influence DFE methodologies in the future.
If one considers the huge amounts of WEEE (waste from electrical and electronic equipment) which will become available for recovery, one has to strengthen various end-of-life possibilities such as upgrade, re-use, recondition, re-manufacture, resale or recycling of materials. The quality of these end-of-life possibilities are decisively determined by the quality of the logistic systems. Today the end-of-life electric and electronic equipment is mostly regarded as scrap and treated like it is usual for scrap-in a destructive way. This makes it impossible to re-use equipment, components and parts. This paper describes the development of a logistic solution which meets the demands for several re-use strategies and also increases the effectiveness in material recycling
The growing amount of WEEE requires a need for a drastic increase of resource productivity. This can be done by the creation of long life - products and the re-usage of product's waste. In order to enhance the use of 7 2 product's components, the Austrian Society for Systems Engineering and Automation started to build a demonstration plant within the Strategic CARE initiative: "E! 1592 - Disassembly Factory". The idea of this subproject is to develop a flexible semi-automatic disassembling cell for extracting valuable components from printed circuit boards [PCB] and to investigate the necessary design impacts in order to develop a concept for a "disassembly-oriented product structure". This paper illustrates the working methodology in order to develop a concept for a "disassembly oriented product structure"
Sustainable development will be a key to competitiveness in the new century. Large corporations have begun to understand this, and have built a growing body of experience in this field. Smaller and medium-sized companies are still lacking access and understanding of that knowledge. The concept of the Virtual University of Sustainability presented in this paper allows to bring knowledge and appreciation of sustainable development to a world-wide audience through combining the latest distance learning and information technology with proven training traditions.
The development of a flexible semi - automatic disassembly cell for printed circuit boards (PCB) will be described and discussed. PCB from various devices are collected and manually dismantled. In the disassembly cell the components on the PCB are first identified by a vision system and classified in environmental relevant, valuable and remaining components. This classification based on a database containing information from the market. The first two groups are disassembled by means of a robot and finally the process results in PCBs which are less environmental relevant and electronic components suitable for re-use.
Almost all end-of-life possibilities-upgrade, re-use, recycling of materials-require some form of disassembly. Despite the high standard of automation for the assembly of electric and electronic equipment, the standard of automation for disassembling is still very low and therefor dismantling is often done manually. The approach to automate disassembling processes of electr(on)ic equipment with disassembly cells and the development of a flexible semi-automatic disassembly cell for printed circuit boards (PCB) will be described and discussed.
This case study shows the implementation of a highly innovative re-use and recycling system for waste of electric and electronic equipment (WEEE). This so called multi life cycle center makes use of the latest developments in automation and information technology in order to obtain an efficient economical and ecological process. In this center, implemented as a pilot plant in Vienna, Austria, WEEE will be transformed back into valuable products. The product groups treated for re-use include IT and telecommunication equipment, consumer electronics, electrical and electronic tools, toys and leisure equipment. The management of the reverse logistic system is based on RFID technology (radio frequency identification). The multi life cycle center follows the philosophy of recovering WEEE at the highest possible level, starting with re-use of the whole product down to the subassembly and component level and finally to the recycling of materials. This approach is unique in the world and we are going to prove that an eco-efficient re-use of WEEE on a large scale can be feasible by using highly sophisticated technologies. The presented paper gives an overview of the various functions of the multi life cycle center and highlights two key technologies: semi automatic disassembling and reverse logistic based on RFIDs.
