Design for disassembly - Challenge of the future

The increasing amounts of waste have resulted in legislative acts to enforce recycling in many countries. This forces producers to react quickly. Design for Disassembly (DFD) is an important step to reduce the costs of product recycling. At IPA in Stuttgart a four-step method has been developed to implement DFD. The first step is a product lin analsis. The second step is the definition of company-specific criteria for the recyclability of products. After the next step, the evaluation of the product with respect to its disassemblability the last step is the redesign based upon a catalogue of guidelines for the designer. An example will be presented based upon an automated disassembly cell for telephones.