Design for Manufacturing, Maintenance, Repair and Disposal Flashcards
Ease of manufacture
Achieved by strategies including:
Use modular designs with easy to monitor sub-systems
Use standardised parts and sizes across a range of products
Use wave or reflow methods for manufacturing circuits, rather than manual soldering
Ensure optimal layout of the manufacturing system by using simulation software
Reducing the number of manufacturing processes
Makes manufacture easier but care needs to be taken so sustainability and repeatability of the product isn’t adversely impacted
Use a single redistribution process as opposed to multiple addition or wastage methods
Use self-finishing materials such as polymers
Reduce joining processes required by incorporating integral fixings
Use ribs and webs to create light but strong castings and mouldings
Incorporate integral snap fittings, posts for self-tapping screws and tactile/aesthetic texture in the mould design or polymer parts
But parts from specialist suppliers rather than using in-house production
Use adhesives rather than mechanical fasteners
Choice of materials to aid separation, disassembly and recycling
‘Cradle to cradle’ approach, keeping materials in products separate
Using easily released snap fittings such as the polymer clip-based fastenings that are used in many vacuum cleaners
Using standard screws
Adhering to End of Life Vehicles (ELV) legislation for car disassembly
Using smart materials such as SMA and SMP for automatic ‘active disassembly’
Sustainability
The management of resources to minimise depletion and pollution
Refer to the 6 R’s of sustainability
Reduce and examples
This strategy seeks to use less material and energy to minimise resource depletion and use of toxic materials
E.g. Selling loose fruit and veg, reducing material volume packaging of shampoo bottles
Examples of reduce - IKEA
Distribution using fully loaded, preferably electrically powered vehicles
Producing lightweight, honeycomb structure products that use far less material
Developing a method for constructing hollow table legs requiring minimal materials
Reuse and examples
Making it possible to use products or components again
Adopting returnable milk bottles
Widespread use of old shipping containers for community projects, offices and storage
Demolition bricks are cleaned and incorporated into new building projects
Car components can be reconditioned do that they can be reused
Upcycling and examples
A creative form of reuse, which turns unwanted products and materials into higher value items
E.g. Glass jar vases
Furniture from old pallets
Showerproof clothing from discarded tents
Bags and belts made from discarded inner tubes
Downcycling
When a product or material is recycled to produce something of lower value than before it was recycled
Rethink and examples
Looking over your actions and lifestyle thinking how it could be changed to reduce environmental impact
This improves sustainability by choosing Eco-friendly alternative products, materials and lifestyle
E.g. Installing solar panels, cycling to work
Recycle
Very important for non-renewable materials
Maintaining materials in a pure state is crucial as contamination can ruin the recycling process - 1 PVC bottle in 10000 PET can ruin the recycled PET
Polymer identification codes promote more effective and appropriate sorting and disposal
Recovering the parts and materials from unwanted products to be used again
Recycling cars
Ease of disassembly is critical for recycling cars
Legislation directives such as End of Life Vehicles (ELV) and Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) have encouraged ease of disassembly
Cars are difficult to recycle due to dealing with pollution, automobile shredder residue (ASR) and lithium batteries
‘Cradle to grave’ and ‘cradle to cradle’
‘Cradle to grave’ - consideration of the impact of the impact of the whole lifecycle of products
‘Cradle to cradle’ - even better, as this means that all materials in a product can be reused
Accreditation has been introduced for ‘cradle to cradle’ to guarantee that materials remain separate for easy disassembly and return to the stock of raw material in pure form
Refuse
Consumers can refuse to buy products that are harmful to the environment
Clear marketing and labelling facilitate the recognition of environmental impact
Repair
Designing products that can be repaired rather than those that have to be thrown out if they are damaged
Being able to fix products in order to extend their lifecycle
