Methodology for an integrated life cycle approach to product end-of-life planning

Abstract

The planning of cost-effective strategies to manage products at end-of-life (EoL) is still a major challenge for manufacturers. Different methods have been developed to tackle this challenge but they have mainly approached it from a third-party remanufacturer or recycler perspective. Our work instead focuses on closed-loop supply chains where an integrated lifecycle approach to EoL planning is necessary. By applying a product structure-based methodology, we demonstrate how interrelationships between the EoL and other life cycle stages in a closed-loop supply chain can be captured during the EoL planning process. Its application is demonstrated using a dive torchlight example.