Optimization of Two-Level Disassembly/Remanufacturing/Assembly System with an Integrated Maintenance Strategy

• Main Authors: Zouhour Guiras, Sadok Turki, Nidhal Rezg, Alexandre Dolgui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-04-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: disassembly-assembly system; remanufactured components; stochastic lead times; machine failures; maintenance plan
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/8/5/666

With an increase of environmental pressure on economic activities, reverse flow is increasingly important. It seeks to save resources, eliminate waste, and improve productivity. This paper investigates the optimization of the disassembly, remanufacturing and assembly system, taking into account assembly-disassembly system degradation. An analytical model is developed to consider disassembly, remanufacturing of used/end-of-life product and assembly of the finished product. The finished product is composed of remanufactured and new components. A maintenance policy is sequentially integrated to reduce the system unavailability. The aim of this study is to help decision-makers, under certain conditions, choose the most cost-effective process for them to satisfy the customer as well as to adapt to the potential risk that can perturb the disassembly-assembly system. A heuristic is developed to determine the optimal ordered date of the used end-of-life product as well as the optimum release dates of new external components. The results reveal that considering some remanufacturing and purchase components costs, the proposed model is more economical in comparison with a model without remanufactured parts. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the impact of the variation of the ordering cost and quality of the used end-of-life product on the system profitability. Finally, the risk due to system repair periods is discussed, which has an impact on managerial decision-making.