ABSTRACT
The two categories of problems covered in this book are disassembly sequencing and disassembly planning. Disassembly sequencing addresses the question, “how to disassemble?” while disassembly planning delineates “how much to disassemble?” The majority of chapters 4 through 7 were devoted to disassembly sequencing. For a thorough survey of disassembly sequencing problems reported in the literature, see Lambert (2003). A form of a disassembly planning problem was mentioned in the introduction of last chapter, the disassembly-to-order (DTO) problem. DTO problems typically deal with situations where a variety of end-of-life (EOL) products are taken back from the last users or collectors and brought into the disassembly facility. At the disassembly facility, the EOL products are sorted and prepared for disassembly operation. As we know, disassembly is the process of systematic removal of the desired items (components or subassemblies) or materials from the EOL product so that the items or materials are obtained in the desired form. Complex components such as motherboards are frequently considered as items to be disassembled. Disassembly can be
selective
(only a selection of items in the product are disassembled) or
complete
(all items in the product are disassembled). In addition, disassembly can be
nondestructive
(focusing on items rather than materials) or
destructive
(focusing on materials rather than items). After nondestructive disassembly, the items are sold, reused, recycled, stored for future use, or disposed of. Similarly, after destructive disassembly, the materials are either recycled or disposed of.
