A model for the economic assessment of disassembly-line integration in traditional manufacturing processes

Managing End-of-Life (EoL) products and reintroducing materials and components within the production loop become crucial for guaranteeing the Circular Economy business model. In such a way, the proper management of disassembly process for recovering components and materials from returned EoL products is essential as well as strategic: disassembly is the main gateway of information and can ensure economic returns. This paper aims to provide a model for the economic assessment of the introduction of a manual disassembly line in a traditional and already operating assembly line of manufacturing industries. Therefore, recovered components and materials could directly feed the assembly lines and the recycling processes. The model takes in input probabilistic factors, as products' characteristics, and provides the operating times and component recovery indicators, as well as allows the sizing of the right number of operators needed in the new disassembly line through the optimisation of the industrial cost. An interesting natural evolution of this study is the development of a model-based simulator, with the aim of providing a user-friendly tool to industrial practitioners to estimate the economic feasibility and convenience of introducing a disassembly line.