Evaluating design for upgradability at the conceptual design stage

Abstract

It is necessary to have an alternative approach in handling end of life vehicle (ELV) other than disposal, due to its adverse impact to the environment. Remanufacturing is the process that can retain the values of used products when they reached the end of their useful life. Product upgradability for multiple lifecycle products (MLPs) is one of the promising methods that can enhance a product’s life and also maintain its value. The focus of this study is to make a pre-assessment on a selected automotive component in order to examine its design conceptualisation for purposes of upgradability. This is to ensure that the product meets the design characteristics of upgradability to accommodate and strive for the generational changes in view of extending the life of the product. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) was used to represent the requirements of a product in terms of physical and functional model at three levels namely Engineering Metric (EM), Component and Structure. Data from QFD is crucial in providing the details of the product for the purpose of developing a new design of the brake caliper model that can has ease-of-upgrade features through the remanufacturing process. A systematic approach for future study is proposed with the aim of developing a formulation through modeling and optimization in order to obtain the optimized upgradable product design.