From Cloud Manufacturing to Cloud Remanufacturing: A Cloud-based Approach for WEEE Recovery Xi Vincent Wang*, Lihui Wang Department of Production Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden Abstract: The modern manufacturing industry calls for a new generation of integration models that are more interoperable, intelligent, adaptable and distributed. Evolved from service-oriented architecture, web-based manufacturing and cloud computing, a cloud manufacturing model has been discussed worldwide which enables manufacturing enterprises to respond quickly and effectively to the changing global market. Especially for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), it is a critical necessity to reuse, remanufacture, recycle and recover it by re-shaping the lifecycle management patterns. In this paper, recent WEEE research works are briefly reviewed. Next, a novel service-oriented remanufacturing platform is introduced based on the cloud manufacturing concept. Keywords: Cloud Manufacturing, Cloud Remanufacturing, WEEE 1.
Introduction
Cloud Manufacturing (CManufacturing) is a novel manufacturing model that provides an interoperable and collaborative environment for distributed manufacturing. Based on NIST’s definition, Xu [1] defines CManufacturing as a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient and on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable manufacturing resources (e.g. manufacturing software tools, manufacturing equipment and manufacturing capabilities), which can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. It offers promising features such as resource pooling, on-demand services, rapid elasticity and so forth. In the background of remanufacturing, the participants, such as consumers, collectors and recyclers, are widely distributed in not only remanufacturing business chain, but also random customer locations. Thus, it is necessary to introduce a system to better support the geographically dispersed remanufacturing business. 2.
From Cloud Manufacturing to Cloud Remanufacturing
Rapid increase of production of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) has resulted in generation of enormous amount of Waste EEE (WEEE). WEEE consists of a large number of components in various sizes and shapes, while they are also resource-rich as they contain many valuable materials/components. In many countries, a producer’s responsibility is extended to the post-consumer stage for their EEE after sales and maintenance phases, which is defined as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) [2-4]. During the past years, many attempts have been taken in decision making, process planning and WEEE evaluation [5-8]. However, there is still a lack of a system that can take care of the entire remanufacturing supply chain. Especially, most systems aim to support industry sectors, without the consideration of end users’ interaction. In practice, the performance of WEEE remanufacturing can be further improved by associating it with the systematic methods using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and other emerging technologies, e.g. Cloud Computing and CManufacturing.
* Corresponding author. E-mail:
[email protected] (Xi Vincent Wang)
As mentioned above, CManufacturing is based on Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) that can be considered as an advanced process-centric manufacturing model. It provides a mechanism for multiobjective resource access that is particularly suitable for geographically separated business models. Interoperability of manufacturing applications can be achieved at the service level. In recent years, CManufacturing approaches have been proposed worldwide to provision service-oriented networks [915]. To recap, there is a need for a comprehensive platform at higher level that integrates all the current and future applications/modules. A Cloud-based WEEE remanufacturing system can be a feasible solution that coordinates WEEE recovery processes and participants. 3.
CWR: A Cloud-based WEEE Remanufacturing System
To support a smart remanufacturing service and sustainable WEEE management, it is possible to introduce the CManufacturing concept into the WEEE paradigm. A Cloud-based Remanufacturing system is the system supported by Cloud, which especially provisions the remanufacturing capabilities in terms of Cloud services. Compared with CManufacturing systems, Cloud Remanufacturing environment especially focuses on the recovery processes and product tracking/management mechanisms. Thus a Cloud-based WEEE Remanufacturing (CWR) system is designed to provision scalable and modularised Cloud Remanufacturing service. In the CWR system, the customers, suppliers, remanufacturers, experts and relevant personnel are coordinated in the remanufacturing Cloud (WEEE Cloud) via the network based on SOA. The collaborative and integrated environment maintains all stages of product, including Beginning-Of-Life (BOL), Middle-Of-Life (MOL) and End-Of-Life (EOL) (Figure 1). It forms a shared pool of configurable remanufacturing services. Utilisation of Cloud resources could exist from random short-term contracts to strategic long-term cooperation. Begin-of-Life
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Figure 1. Cloud-based EEE Management
From the remanufacturer’s point of view, the business network is extended to a broader scope thanks to the Cloud environment. In traditional business approaches, the logistics of WEEE heavily
depends on the existing connections. The business opportunities are limited by the experience and ability of individual participants. In CWR, the service arrangement is based on the service pool contributed by all Cloud stakeholders. Remanufacturing ability is strengthened by wide support from the whole Cloud at upper levels, which provides a rich collection of devices, facilities and resources. From the customers’ viewpoint, Cloud-based Remanufacturing offers a wide range of service options. Ondemand and customised services can be achieved via the interaction between the user and WEEE Cloud with less effort and lower cost. 3.1 Three-layer CWR System The CWR system is constructed by three layers, i.e. User Layer, Cloud Service Coordinator Layer and Remanufacturing Cloud Layer (Figure 2). The User Layer hosts the remanufacturing service participants who are connected to the Cloud via a network. It provides graphical user interface and interaction methods. As the brain of CWR, Cloud Coordinator Layer provides the management mechanism and computing capability for the whole system. It is realised by software agents thanks to their autonomy, responsiveness, redundancy, distributedness and openness features [16]. Based on the service requests from users, the Broker Agent analyses the demands considering the remanufacturing capability records in the database. After the service solution is decided, the Supervision Agent executes and terminates the service by controlling the event/data flow through service packages. This forms a “Request-FindProvide” service procedure. Remanufacturing Cloud Layer User Layer
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Figure 2. Cloud-based WEEE Remanufacturing System
As the third layer of the system, Remanufacturing Cloud Layer contains the modularised remanufacturing services, e.g. Recycle Service, Reproduction Service and Recondition Service. The shared pool of remanufacturing capabilities distinguishes the Cloud-based solution from traditional webbased remanufacturing systems. Firstly, a comprehensive Cloud solution is able to take care of resources from different stakeholders and provide an optimal solution based on multiple candidates. Reasonable redundancy of resources also guarantees the availability and reliability of services. Furthermore, it enables time-sensitive resources to be better utilised and outsourced. With the help of a Cloud-based
resource pool, the peaks and valleys of workload can be balanced among multiple service providers. The elastic scheduling mechanism helps a company utilise resources better. 3.2 Cloud-based Product Tracking Mechanism and Implementations After remanufacturing services are organised in the Cloud, it is also important to manage the related product, materials and resource information. A dynamic knowledge control mechanism is needed to maintain the product specifications from the remanufacturing perspective. In CWR, the product information is stored in the Cloud repository, which keeps the data dynamically updated throughout the lifecycle of products. Manufacturers, users and recyclers are able to access the Cloud repository via networks and maintain the latest WEEE details collaboratively. The repository provides a standardised and integrated environment to manipulate the knowledge. In this research, Quick Response (QR) Code is implemented to improve the product tracking system. QR code is a type of matrix barcode that is an optically machine-readable label attached to a product [17]. It provides fast readability and greater storage capacity, which is especially suitable for distributed environment like CWR. Traditionally there are different tracking methodologies, e.g. RFID, Wireless Sensor Network, GPS, etc. However, most of these methods require additional equipment/facilities to initialise a tracking system. Normally, end users are not expected to be equipped with RFID readers or GPS receivers. With the help of QR tags, the users, including customers and service providers, are able to quickly scan the QR tag on the product by using exiting mobile devices, e.g. smart phones, PDAs, tablets, etc. (Figure 3) without additional investments. The code can be directly interpreted to the fundamental WEEE specifications, e.g. OEM, hazardous material, important components and so forth. These specifications and identifiers are then mapped to detailed specifications in Cloud database. In this way, CWR users are able to dynamically interact with WEEE data in the Cloud. Optimised and customised services can be organised based on the standardised and comprehensive information environment. Consumers can be connected to the system via software applications/mobile apps without the need for extra devices or expertise. Thus, it provides a smart and distributed information mechanism to support the WEEE remanufacturing chain. Service Coordinator
Cloud Cloud Repository Repository
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QR Code Label
Detailed WEEE & Component Specifications
Fundamental WEEE Data
Remanufacturing Cloud Collecting Service
Disassembly Service
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Service Service Provider Provider 22
Recycle Service Service Service Provider Provider 33
Figure 3. QR Code-based Product Tracking Mechanism
4.
Conclusions
In the background of globalisation and distribution, CManufacturing concept provides an opportunity to integrate current and future manufacturing applications at high level, including WEEE remanufacturing business. In practice, it is difficult for end users to obtain full knowledge of remanufacturing business. Interaction among different remanufacturing participants is also crucial in the distributed and heterogeneous environment. Cloud Remanufacturing is able to connect stakeholders via network and offers a collaborative environment. From the consumer’s point of view, the Cloud Remanufacturing system provisions a shared pool of essential recovery functionalities in terms of services. The scalable and elastic service package can be arranged to meet the customised needs of different users. In this research, a Cloud-based remanufacturing system is proposed to establish an intelligent and interoperable platform that realises a “Request-Find-Provide” service loop based on SOA. Systematic design and information management mechanism is developed to streamline the processes throughout the lifecycle of products, especially the middle and end stages of the products’ life. QR code is utilised to strengthen the readability and tractability of the products during system implementation. In the future, semantic web service and standards can be adapted to further support the Cloud Remanufacturing services. It is necessary to establish a standardised description methodology to profile the service data, which is compliant with product information, knowledge, processes and current international standards. References [1] X. Xu, From Cloud Computing to Cloud Manufacturing, Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, 28 (2012) 75-86. [2] EU, Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), (2003),Available: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:037:0024:0038:en:PDF. [3] K. Sander, S. Schilling, T. N., V.C. Rossem, J. Vernon, C. George, The producer responsibility principle of the WEEE Directive, DG ENV, (2007),Available: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee/pdf/final_rep_okopol.pdf. [4] C.K. Mayers, Strategic, Financial, and Design Implications of Extended Producer Responsibility in Europe: A Producer Case Study, Journal of Industrial Ecology, 11 (2007) 113-131. [5] B. Das, A.F. Cutting-Decelle, R.I.M. Young, K. Case, S. Rahimifard, C.J. Anumba, N. Bouchlaghem, Towards the understanding of the requirements of a communication language to support process interoperation in cross-disciplinary supply chains, International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, 20 (2007) 396-410. [6] A.J. Lambert, Determining optimum disassembly sequences in electronic equipment, Computers & Industrial Engineering, 43 (2002) 553-575. [7] M. Gonzalez, F. Gonzalez, A. Luaces, J. Cuadrado, Interoperability and neutral data formats in multibody system simulation, Multibody System Dynamics, 18 (2007) 59-72. [8] P. Shrivastava, H.C. Zhang, J. Li, A. Whitely, Evaluating obsolete electronic products for disassembly, material recovery and environmental impact through a decision support system, in: Electronics and the Environment, 2005. Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Symposium on, IEEE, 2005, pp. 221-225. [9] L. Zhang, Y.L. Luo, F. Tao, L. Ren, H. Guo, Key Technologies for the Construction of Manufacturing Cloud, Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems, 16 (2010) 2510-2520. [10] F. Tao, Y. Cheng, L. Zhang, Y.L. Luo, L. Ren, Cloud Manufacturing, Advanced Materials Research, 201 (2011) 672-676.
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