GMIT GALWAY-MAYO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY INSTITIUID TEICNEOlAlOCHTA NA GAIUIHHE-MAIGH EO A Decision Support System for End-of-Life Products In one volume Laurentiu Dimache Submitted for the Degree of Master of Engineering Research carried out at: GMIT, Galway, Ireland Research Supervisor: Dr. Kate Goggin Submitted to the Higher Education and Training Awards Council July 2003 Declaration I hereby declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own and that it has not been used to obtain a degree in this university or elsewhere. Laurentiu Dimache i my wife Aurora and my family Abstract In recent years public awareness of environmental issues has increased dramatically. This awareness has resulted in increased governmental control of related matters, for example, of waste and of industrial emissions. Consumer and legislative pressures are forcing manufacturers to broaden the manufacturing system to include product take- back and recovery. A take-back system necessitates good logistics and information systems. This thesis proposes a decision support system that assists in decision-making in relation to end-of-life (EOL) products. There are several options at the end-of-life of a product: reuse/part reclamation, remanufacturing, recycling, incineration (with or without energy recovery) or discard to landfill. Each option has an economic and an environmental impact. The impacts are described by indicators that have specific values for each option. Decision-makers - who may be recycling companies, original equipment manufacturers or local authorities - need to determine which option, or combination of options, is best in a given situation. A mathematical model to assist in this decision is proposed. The model is based on vectors that contain indicators’ values for each EOL option. A generic EOL scenario, which may comprise a combination of EOL options is expressed as a linear combination of options. This modelling approach permits the use of linear algebra tools in expressing and solving problems related to EOL scenario of products such as: calculate the best scenario structure given the targets set by the EU WEEE Directive and the EOL options vectors; solve ‘What If situations; when used in combination with a multi-criteria analysis method (such as AHP), identify the best EOL option from an environmental and economic point of view. Based on the mathematical model and the Business Process Reengineering methodology, the decision support system for end-of-life products is developed. Published Work Associated with This Thesis Dimache, Laurentiu; Dimache, Aurora & Goggin, Kate - Products End-of-Life Scenario Modelling Using Linear Algebra, Proceedings of the 13th SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) Conference, April 2003; Dimache, Aurora; Dimache, Laurentiu & Goggin, Kate - Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in Decision-Making for End-of-Life of Products, Proceedings of the 2nd Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems, June 2003. The research described in this thesis was funded by the EEDSS project. The EEDSS (Environmental and Economic Decision Support System for End-of-Life Products) project is a basic research project funded by Enterprise Ireland. Acknowledgements I would like to thank, first of all, my supervisor, Dr. Kate Goggin, for all the help and advice and for giving me the opportunity to work in research. Thank you Kate for everything! Thanks to Camelia and Ovidiu who made my stay here in Ireland much better, who always invited me to pleasant parties, movies, and trips. To David, the Irish guy who never said no to an invitation to a pint or to a trip away. I’ll never ask you again to join me for a squash session. I am positive one day you will get the job you are dreaming of Until then good luck with your PhD! To Colin and Derek, some other Irish guys who made me feel not exactly a ‘visitor’ while away from home. To Carine, who set the competition on writing the theses. Of course you won and you will always do. Good luck in France! To Jean-Philippe and Laurence for the good time we had in the Training Restaurant. Special thanks to the guys at home who miss me a lot but understood my reasons leaving home for a while. And finally, thanks to Aurora who was always there for me. Table of Contents CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Introduction............................................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2. Thesis M o tiv atio n................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.3. Thesis Structure..................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.4. Co nclusions............................................................................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 2. PRODUCT RECOVERY - A NECESSITY ..................................................................................5 2.1. Introduction.............................................................................................................................................................5 2.2. Impacts of M anufacturing on Env ir o n m en t........................................................................................... 5 2.2.1. Impacts o f Metal Manufacturing on Environment............................ 7 2.2.2. Impacts o f Plastics Manufacturing on Environment.............................. 8 2.2.3. Impacts o f Electronics Manufacturing on Environment..................................... ......... 9 2.3. D rivers of Product Recovery............................................................................................... 10 2.3.1. Environmental Consciousness o f Consumers....................................................................................12 2.3.2. Competitive Pressures..................................................................................... 12 2.3.3. Eco-labels.................................................. 13 2.3.4. Industry Standards on Environment Protection .............................«............ 14 2.3.5. Environmental Law ............................................................................................................. 16 2.4. D esign to Support Product Recovery..................................................................... 23 2.4.1. Design fo r Environment........................................................................................................................ 24 2.5. Conclusions.............................................................................................................................................. 29 C H A PTER 3. LO GISTICS RELATED TO PR O D U C TS T A K E -B A C K ....................................................31 3.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 31 3.2. Extended Producer Responsibility a n d Product Take-B a c k ....................................................... 32 3.2.1. Principles o f EPR - Basis o f Product Take-Back Policies............................................................32 3.2.2. Approaches to EPR Policy............................................................................................. 33 3.2.3. Models o f Take-Back............................................................................................................................ 34 3.2.4. Electrical and Electronic Equipment Take-Back Policies............................................................36 3.2.5. Economic and Environmental Costs and Benefits o f Take-Back Policies...................................41 3.3. Reverse Logistics..................................................................................................................................... 42 3.3.1. What is Reverse Logistics?...................................................................................................................42 3.3.2. Reverse Logistics Activities...................................................................................................... - ......... 43 3.3.3. Reverse Logistics Network D esign ..............................„...... 46 3.3.4. Issues in Reverse Logistics................................ .............................. ,.......................... 49 vii 3.4. C o n c l u s i o n s .................................................... 54 CHAPTER 4. DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS AND DATA MODELLING ........................................ 56 4.1. Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................................56 4.2. Information Sy st e m s .......................................................................................................................................... 57 4.2.1. Data and Information............................................................................................................................ 57 4.2.2. Definition and Structure of a Computer-Based Information System ..........................................