Treatment of reliability for reuse and remanufacture

Abstract

Summarized are approaches addressing reliability in reuse (without repair) and remanufacture. To support the design of a product whose life cycle involves reuse without repair, two types of reliability data (time to failure and quality-deterioration data) were used in the simulation of the material flow during the life cycle. For management of material flow, reliability models were developed and applied to predict quantities of returned products and reusable components for each time period. The predicted results can be used for production planning in manufacturing firms using reusable parts as well as new parts. A reliability model was developed and validated to better describe populations of systems that undergo repairs performed during remanufacture or maintenance. Remanufacturer waste streams of several products were analyzed to reveal remanufacture difficulties. A modified FMEA uses the results of waste-stream analyses and considers ease of detection and repair of failure in conjunction with waste-stream contribution of failure modes in design for remanufacture.