A Closed-loop Manufacturing System focusing on Reuse of Components

Abstract

Environmentally conscious manufacturing has gained more and more interests in recent years. For achieving it, closed-loop manufacturing system where products are made from used products, parts and materials taken-back from market, as well as new ones, should be established. Focusing on factories, complicated fluctuations of amount, quality, and timing of these taken-back resources make effective planning and control of these factories very difficult. In this paper, we have designed a conceptual factory model of a closed-loop manufacturing system considering material flow, with these various kinds of fluctuations. We also illustrate a prototype factory model we have developed for aiming at handling these fluctuations.