A novel approach to product modularity and product disassembly with the consideration of 3R‐abilities

In recent years, the production of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) has been one of the fastest growing areas of manufacturing. The recent European Community waste EEE directives aim to promote the recycling, reuse and reduction (3R) of such waste. The 3Rs are becoming increasingly important, due to current strict environmental regulations. However, research to enhance 3R‐abilities with better design presents some difficulties: there is no present analysis of the impact of each of the 3Rs and analytical methods are often too complicated, so there is a need for practical and simple guidelines. To resolve these issues, this paper presents a novel approach that considers the relationships between product components and identifies the ideal product disassembly pattern and modularity by constructing a component matrix, with regard to product disassembly. The product disassembly, which identifies modules and disassembly pattern, also initiates a strategy to enhance 3R‐abilities. Two cases are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.