Design for upgradable products considering future uncertainty

Abstract

Conventional products tend to be thrown away because of functional obsoleteness before reaching the end of the physical life of the products. This is one of the main causes of the mass disposal problem. In order to solve this problem, the paper proposes a design methodology for upgradable products. In particular, the paper discusses a method dealing with uncertainty caused by long-term planning in the design methodology for upgradability. The proposed method deals with uncertainty as ranges of parameter values, and derives a design solution that realizes required upgrades, while adapting to estimated uncertainty. This method makes the products robust and tolerant against uncertainty, and therefore makes design for upgradability more feasible.