Genetically optimised disassembly sequence for automotive component reuse

Environmental sustainability through end-of-life recovery has become the main items of contest in the automotive industries. Component reuse as one of the product recovery strategy is now gaining importance in view of its impact on the environment. Disassembly as one of the determinant factors for reuse is a very important and difficult process in life cycle engineering. To enable reuse, a certain level of disassembly of each component is necessary so that parts of the products that have arrived at their end-of life can be easily taken apart. Improvements to the disassembly process of products can be achieved at two levels: in the design phase, making choices that favours the ease of disassembly of the constructional system (design for disassembly) and planning at best and optimising the disassembly sequence (disassembly sequence planning). Hence, finding an optimal disassembly sequence is important to increase the reusability of the product. This paper presents the development work on an optimisation model for disassembly sequence using the genetic algorithms (GA) approach. GA is chosen to solve this optimisation model due to its capability in solving many large and complex optimisation problems compared with other heuristic methods. The fitness function of the GA in this study is dependent on the increment in disassembly time. Comparison of results using different combinatorial operators and tests with different probability factors are shown. This paper will present and discuss the disassembly sequence of an engine block, as a case example which achieves the minimum disassembly time. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.