INVESTIGATING THE REQUIREMENTS NEEDED TO MAKE APPROPRIATE END OF LIFE DECISIONS

DS 68-5: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED 11), Impacting Society through Engineering Design, Vol. 5: Design for X / Design to X, Lyngby/Copenhagen, Denmark, 15.-19.08.2011

Year: 2011
Editor: Culley, S.J.; Hicks, B.J.; McAloone, T.C.; Howard, T.J. & Malmqvist, J.
Author: Doyle, Kirsty
Series: ICED
Section: Design for X, Design to X
Page(s): 265-270

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present the key findings on End of Life (EoL) decision making during product design, followed by a summation of the further research needed within the field. The methodology includes literature review of current publications, focus group discussions and telephone interview of designers. The main findings conclude that ecodesign and Life Cycle Analysis approaches are not suited to determining the EOL route for a product during the design process. Furthermore, EOL determination models have conflicting views as to when in the design process EoL decisions should be made, who should make the decisions and how the decisions are determined. The originality of this work is that it (i) studies the process of EoL decision-making from a designer’s perspective, and (ii) takes a holistic decision-making approach.

Keywords: REMANUFACTURE; END-OF-LIFE; ECODESIGN; DECISION-MAKING

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