Investigating the Relationship Between Design-for-Reliability/Design-for-the-Environment Investment, and Field Warranty and End-of-Life Costs

摘要

AdoptionoftheWasteofElectricalandElectronicEquipmentdirectiveintheEuropeanUnionmeansthatproducersofelectronicequipmentwillnowface,notonlywarrantyfailurecosts,butend-of-lifecostsaswell.Thisincreasestheimportanceofpreventionactivitiesindesign.Thispaperlinksthecostsofpreventionactivities,specificallydesign-for-the-environmentanddesign-for-reliability,within-warrantyfailureandend-of-lifecostsincurredinthefield.Acase-studymethodologyisutilizedtodemonstratehowthislinkcanbemodeled,andhowproducersmayidentifyrelevantdata.Theresultisadecisionsupporttoolthat,forthefirsttime,drawstogetherthedifferentcompetingconsiderationsforproducersfacingend-of-lifecosts.Byemployingthistool/approach,theproducercanmakeinformeddecisionswithrespecttotheinterrelatedareasofdesigninvestment,warrantystrategy,productpricing,disposallogistics,etc.Anon-mathematicalapproachisemployedandsomesimplifyingassumptionsaremade,mostlyinordertominimizethesizesoftablespresented.