Workshop "Design for Disassembly"

Today’s products are being optimized to make them easy to assemble (automatically). When a new product is developed, on the other hand, little or no thought is given to how easily it can be disassembled because the aspect of recycling the product at the end of its life is not taken into consideration. Sooner or later, however, product design will have to take the entire product life cycle into account. This is because regulations governing the use of recyclates in the manufacture of batteries and plastics, rising CO2 certificate prices, and the initiated EU directive on the “right to repair”, are already creating a framework that makes simple disassembly a necessity. Products can only actually be recycled if this is the case.

Although Fraunhofer IPA has been successfully implementing its Design for Automation product design strategy (design for automated assembly) for many years, it reaches its limits in this regard. With "Design for Disassembly", there is now a design approach that takes not only the automation concept but also the product life cycle into account and thus represents a holistic solution for sustainable product design. In a workshop, we explain this design approach to companies and show them how to implement it in their own operations.

Services:

The workshop on the basics of disassembly-friendly product design covers the following topics:

• General conditions such as applicable laws and potential savings
• Fundamentals of disassembly and joining techniques
• Presentation of various Design for Disassembly guidelines prepared by Fraunhofer IPA
• Joint optimization of customer-specific products for (automated) disassembly
   

Benefits:

• Learning and applying guidelines and a systematic approach to designing products with disassembly in mind
• Developing an interdisciplinary and cross-departmental understanding of sustainable products
• Double added value: products that are easy to disassemble are usually also easy to assemble