Evaluation of product reusability based on a technical and economic model: a case study of televisions

In the field of sustainable manufacturing, reusing of old products or components is considered as the most environmentally friendly strategy among all other strategies. However, the decision of reusing old components of a used product confronts many uncertainties such as the quality level of the used components and the economic aspect of reusing them compared to producing a new component. This paper presents an integrated technical and economic model to evaluate the reusability of products or components. The model introduces some new parameters, such as product value and product gain, to assist the decision between reuse, remanufacture or disposal. In order to handle uncertainties, a Monte Carlo simulation using @Risk/sup /spl trade// is utilized. The results show that the model is capable to assess the potential reusability of used products, while the use of simulation significantly increases the function of the model in addressing uncertainties. A case study of televisions is used to demonstrate the applicability of the model using extensive time-to-failure data for the major parts of a television set. Furthermore, a direction of future work is outlined and briefly discussed.