A methodology for optimizing modular design considering product end of life strategies

Product modularity is a concept of clustering the independent components into logical units that are relatively independent to each other in functions. With the growing interest in environmental protection, the inclusion of product end of life issues during product design has been seen as a promising method to improve product utilization after its retirement. There are very few methodologies that deal with modularity at the conceptual design stage in which incorporate product end of life strategies and end of life cost in the literature. The lack of information during conceptual design will cause failure in overcoming drawbacks that will be apparent later in the detail design. The motivation of this study is to identify the relationship between product end of life strategies and modular design, and to formulate an optimization method to assist designers in designing products with appropriate end of life strategies to reduce environmental impact during product retirement. This paper proposes a practical method in optimizing modular design with different end of life strategies by using an Excel based approach that will be usable by designers.