Sustainability of electronic product manufacturing through e-waste management and reverse logistics

Abstract

The manufacturing of electronic devices has revolutionized modern life, but it has also led to critical environmental challenges, particularly related to the disposal of electronic waste (e-waste). Effective e-waste management is a growing concern that demands integrated strategies such as recycling, sustainable product design, and safe disposal practices. This study proposes a two-step autonomated inspection process during manufacturing, ensuring that only defect-free products reach the market, while defective items are promptly repaired. The demand for defect-free products is modelled as a function of their selling price. Post-consumer, the framework incorporates a reverse logistics system where product components are sorted and disassembled to recover valuable materials for recycling, repairing, or repurposing in secondary manufacturing. The study addresses constrained decision-making problems, optimizing resource allocation, minimizing costs, and enhancing environmental sustainability using sequential quadratic programming, a numerical optimization technique. The robustness of the proposed model is demonstrated through sensitivity analysis and Pareto analysis highlights cost-cutting opportunities in manufacturing and return processing, emphasizing the importance of operational quality and sustainability. Additionally, it highlights the critical role of stakeholder collaboration in fostering sustainable lifecycle management within the electronic industry. The model evaluates key decision variables like recycling, repairing, and secondary manufacturing, showcasing its practical application and adaptability in addressing future e-waste challenges. The findings emphasize the economic and environmental benefits of integrating advanced inspection processes with reverse logistics in the sustainability of electronic product waste management.