The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Optimal and intelligent decision making in sustainable development of electronic products
Author:	Gao, Meimei
View Online:	njit-etd2003-108 (xv, 134 pages ~ 6.1 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Degree:	Doctor of Philosophy
Program:	Computer Engineering
Document Type:	Dissertation
Advisory Committee:	Zhou, MengChu (Committee co-chair) Caudill, Reggie J. (Committee co-chair) Ansari, Nirwan (Committee member) Hou, Edwin (Committee member) Tang, Ying (Committee member)
Date:	2003-08
Keywords:	Decision making Fuzzy reasoning Demanufacturing Sustainable development Petri nets
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	Increasing global population and consumption are causing declining natural and social systems. Multi-lifecycle engineering and sustainable development address these issues by integrating strategies for economic successes, environmental quality, and social equity. Based on multi-lifecycle engineering and sustainable development concepts, this doctoral dissertation aims to provide decision making approaches to growing a strong industrial economy while maintaining a clean, healthy environment. The research develops a methodology to complete both the disassembly leveling and bin assignment decisions in demanufacturing through balancing the disassembly efforts, value returns, and environmental impacts. The proposed method is successfully implemented into a demanufacturing module of a Multi-LifeCycle Assessment and Analysis tool. The methodology is illustrated by a computer product example. Since products during the use stage may experience very different conditions, their external and internal status can vary significantly. These products, when coming to a demanufacturing facility, are often associated with incomplete/imprecise information, which complicates demanufacturing process decision making. In order to deal with uncertain information, this research proposes Fuzzy Reasoning Petri nets to model and reason knowledge-based systems and successfully applies them to demanufacturing process decision making to obtain the maximal End-of-Life (BOL) value from discarded products. Besides the BOL management of products by means of product/material recovery to decrease environmental impacts, the concepts of design for environment and sustainable development are investigated. Based on Sustainability Target Method, a sensitivity analysis decision-making method is proposed. It provides a company with suggestions to improve its product's sustainability in the most cost-effective manner.