An Analogical Problem Solving Approach to Planning for Disassembly

Abstract

Disassembly has been emerging as an important potential response to recent environmental and recycling regulations as well as resource conservation needs. One can identify two distinct approaches to tackle the disassembly problem, viz., design for disassembly (DFD) and planning for disassembly (PFD). This paper focuses on the PFD approach. The evolution of a disassembly plan may require some heuristics and domain specific knowledge. In addition, disassembly planners may have a particular style to solve disassembly problems. Due to these facts and the nature of the PFD itself (open ended and iterative), the paper proposes the use of Analogical Problem Solving (APS) as an approach to assist planners to solve PFD problems. APS is based on the sensible notion that problem solving can be assisted by the reuse of solutions to similar problems encountered in the past. The framework of applying APS to PFD, the merits of this approach, and the issues relating to its use for PFD are discussed.