Exploiting the Full Potential of I4.0 Technologies for Products EOL Recovery Process

The recent advancements of technology have been radically transforming the industrial world and our societies as well. The application of the new technologies is ubiquitous involving various domains from industrial production to everyday life. This paper investigates whether and how it is possible to better support product life-cycle management by exploiting product's enhanced capabilities stemming from an I4.0 ecosystem. To this aim, this paper proposes the new concept of Product 4.0 that is a product archetype combining the functionalities of an intelligent product with those permitted by I4.0 technologies. As Product 4.0 has the potential to benefit the various phases of the product life cycle, this paper also provides further details on the end-of-life recovery options for this new product archetype, by means of an explanatory case dealing with a laser-jet printer.