Figure 7 outlines the steps for product recovery. With the input of product condition, decision maker decides on selecting the recovery process to obtain the optimal recovery value. Finally, the product is restored, where the recovered product is the output of the recovery process. EoL product information is not merely a decision input; more importantly, the knowledge learned enables better design for EoL product recovery. If the EoL product information is utilized wisely, product recovery process could achieve more efficiently and productively.

The design of product recovery process shall enable each product recovery cost to be highly efficient so that one can optimize resources required to recover the EoL product according to the product nature. This section shall examine the design for each of the following process:

• Reusability
• Remanufacturability
• Recyclability

Reusability

Reusability indicates that the EoL product can be reused from evaluation of EoL product condition, though the EoL product is lagging behind a new product in terms of quality and reliability. In this case, the EoL product does not require any refurbish process; it only requires test to determine that the EoL product condition passes the threshold of reusability. Therefore, the cost involves only the EoL product condition test.
The design of EoL product condition test in most cases requires the following to achieve high optimization:

• Accuracy
• Precision
• Short test time
• Less material or manpower required

Automation becomes an obvious option, and thus the test has to be planned, designed, and maintained. Today, there is a lot of high-end equipment which allows user to do different kinds of measurement quickly without much manpower required as long as the setting is preset. Besides, these machines can communicate with other machines to enable data sharing or data analysis. This will enable the user to quickly interpret the EoL product condition as reusable.

Remanufacturability

Remanufacturability specifies that the EoL product is appropriate for reprocess to become as new product. The cost incurred here is higher than reusability as mentioned above due to the extra process required to reprocess the EoL product, and therefore the value recovered has to be higher too to make economic sense. In most of the cases, remanufacturability is only viable if the EoL product can be repackaged as a new product as the customer is unwilling to pay good price for a used product.
In order to design a product for remanufacturability, one can apply the automation strategy of assessing the EoL product condition as mentioned in the section on reusability above. This assessment shall be able to provide information such as which component is not working according to the specification. After the assessment, the EoL product has to go through reprocess so that it can recover the functionality, quality, and reliability comparable to a new product. In order to achieve this, one has to consider the following steps (Fig. 8).

Recyclability

Recyclability in this context refers to the decomposition of the EoL product and conversion of the subcomponent back to raw material. The EoL product is recycled in this case, is largely due to irreparable or rectifiable condition. Another reason for recycling is when the cost for repair is too high that it does not make any economic sense. Therefore, the most critical process design for recyclability would be determining the EoL product condition, decomposition, and conversion.
During the EoL product condition determination, one has to design the key parameters or conditions that can quickly indicate the high cost of repair. For example, the X-ray machine that shows the crack on mechanical parts can be costly to repair. Therefore, first to detect the costly component will cut short the process to decide on recycling.
Secondly, decomposition of the EoL product can be time consuming and resulted in high cost. This can be improved if manufacturer has considered decomposition during product development and manufacturing. For example, manufacturer can design the product to be in modular form so that certain easy to fail parts can be grouped together for easy isolation or replacement during decomposition process.
Lastly, the subcomponents shall be converted to raw materials if it is confirmed not to be repaired or reused. The conversion usually involves high cost as a lot of energy is required to convert end product to raw material. To overcome this, one has to design this process so that the conversion is being done in high volume to achieve the economy of scale. Besides, adopting high technology method can also help to reduce the effort of conversion.

Residue Value

As explained earlier, residue value is the remains value after recoverable value has been retrieved from EoL product. In any case, residues are the waste resources. Thereby, residue value should keep as minimum as possible. As for the EoL product that cannot be further recovered by using the three methods mentioned above, it has to be discarded. This conclusion can be due to the following:

• The cost or time required to recover does not make economic sense.
• There isn’t a good method to recover the EoL product due to technology constraint.
• The recover method will cause high impact to the environment.

Therefore, it is important to design the management of residue value. Usually there will be cost incurred to manage the residue value in order not to cause impact to the environment.

Marketability

The commercialization of recovered EoL product is equally important as the design of product recovery process, and this has to be considered or designed as early as possible during the development of the product. One can plan the market of recovered EoL product for each category including reuse, remanufacture, and recycle to maximize the recovered value. In practical, one has to consider the potential demand, market, and profits that can be generated from each category of recovered EoL product. Thus, it is important to differentiate the recovered EoL product characteristic so that one can market or price it accordingly.
For reusability, the right market should be the secondhand market because it is a used product and the quality grade is lower than a new product. It is important to counter the two biggest challenges to serve this market, which are pricing and quality. Customer will refuse to spend above certain level for a used product, and thus one has to strike a balance between the pricing and the quality guaranteed. For example, from data collection in the lab, one can determine the remaining life of EoL recovered product under reusability category and propose an optimized warranty period to comfort the anxiety of customer buying a secondhand product.
The difference between recovered EoL product from reuse and remanufacturing has to be carefully crafted so that customer sees values in both options. Manufacturer has to position of recovered EoL product from remanufacturing at higher grade compare to reuse. This is because more cost is usually spent during the EoL product recovery process for remanufacturing such as replacement of faulty or degraded subcomponent. Therefore, manufacturer could market recovered EoL product from remanufacturing close to new product in terms of pricing and quality.
As for the recycled product, it is usually recovered in the form of raw material or at a very low subassembly level. Therefore, one has to observe the raw material market prices and demand to justify the investment or operation of recycling EoL product. At the same time, the cost of disposal and local regulatory can help to support the recycling option. Recycling sometimes can do more harm to environmental impact as it requires reverse engineering and high energy consumption.