A decision-making approach for end-of-life strategies selection of used parts

End-of-life (EOL) strategies selection of used parts is important to ensure efficient resource utilization. However, the diversity and uncertainty of remaining life characteristics of used parts make the EOL strategies selection more complicated. To select appropriate EOL strategies scientifically and effectively, this paper proposes a decision-making approach for EOL strategies selection, considering remaining useful life (RUL) estimation and reliability analysis. By comparing the reliabilities of a used part at the end of its actual useful life and estimated RUL with its reliability threshold, the optimal EOL strategy of used part is determined. Furthermore, an EOL strategies evaluation support system (EOLSESS) is developed for easier application of the presented method. Finally, an illustrative example is provided to demonstrate the feasibility and validity of this method.