Development of a causal model for efficient disassembly network design for XXL-products

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The removal of large products (XXL-products: e. g. wind energy, crane, and conveyer systems) contains special requirements (e. g. higher transportation costs), due to the products size and complexity. Mainly, these requirements lead to high removal costs. A distributed disassembly process which is based not only on an economically efficient but also ecologically and logistically efficient network design can be able to decrease removal costs for XXL-products by also allowing integrating additional target figures (e. g. recycling quota of product parts, disassembly lead time, and network performance) into the planning process. The main challenge of such a planning is determining the parameter values for e.g. plant numbers, plant capacities, plant locations, distance to the product, and assigning activities to the relevant locations. Yet, a scientific examination of which factors are the main drivers for a disassembly network design of large-scale products does not exist. This research project aims to develop a causal model which describes the influence of various external factors on the design of a disassembly network for xxl-products by also allowing for economic, environmental and logistical aspects. In order to achieve this goal, crucial factors for designing such a network are identified and evaluated. The basis for the development is an optimization model of a distributed disassembly network. For solving the optimization model a heuristical approach is necessary. Through formulation and solution of various problem instances within a problem scenario the influence of different factors is to be investigated. The use of a heuristic solution approach permits a time-poor or a general solvability of the location planning problem. The research question of this project is which conditions allow an efficiently run spatially distributed disassembly network for large products by also achieving a good tradeoff of economic, environmental and logistical target figures. The project is based on the hypothesis that a spatially distributed disassembly process for large-scale products is economically, environmentally and logistically advantageous.