Incorporating work factors in design for disassembly in product design

Purpose - This paper seeks to present a methodology to design products for disassembly. This would facilitate end-of-life product disassembly with a view to maximizing material usage in the supply chain at a low cost to the environment. Design/methodology/approach - The methodology presented in the paper draws on fundamentals related to task analysis and motion time measurement. The methodology was practically applied to disassemble several different consumer products with significant savings in time. Findings - Several improvements in product design resulted from various perspectives including functionality, assembly, aesthetics and disassembly. Research limitations/implications - The paper identifies several areas of future research including design optimization and designing work fixtures for disassembly. Originality/value - This work presents in part an improvement in current methodologies related to disassembly as well as original work based on task analysis and suggestion of design alternatives. The paper is therefore valuable to practitioners and researchers alike.