Cloud-based sustainable management of electrical and electronic equipment from production to end-of-life
International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management
ISSN: 0265-671X
Article publication date: 7 January 2019
Issue publication date: 21 February 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe a system and a database structure for the tracing of the waste of electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) using radio-frequency identification tags.
Design/methodology/approach
The problems related to the management of WEEE and the international directives have been presented and analyzed. The authors propose a traceability system to extend the tracing in the reverse logistics.
Findings
The proposed systems allow a more efficient management of the reuse, repair and recycle phase of the products and components, thus reducing the disposal of the electric and electronic equipment. There are many possible positive impacts of the system. The authors investigate, in particular, the impact of the single component tracing on the disposal cost reduction and on the reliability improvement using reused components.
Research limitations/implications
The system has been tested in the production chain of a company that produces electronic equipment for elevators. Up to now, the results and impact are limited to the company.
Practical implications
The system has been applied in the management of reused components of a specific company. The immediate result was that the system allowed the redesign of the electronic product with a cost reduction and reliability improvement.
Social implications
The authors think that the proposed solution allows a step forward in the reduction of WEEE.
Originality/value
The database structure and the web application, used to track the entire working life of an electronic appliance, are original. Original is also the idea of tracing all the single components of the electronic products.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Ing. Andrea Vesprini and Ing. Andrea Medori of VEGA company for the specifications and data used in the system developed. The work presented in this paper is part of a regional RAEEcovery project supported by EU funding (www.raeecovery.com). The authors would like to thank the students Simone Capecci, Eduardo Cassisi, Giuseppe Granatiero for their work in the setup of the system.
Citation
Conti, M. and Orcioni, S. (2019), "Cloud-based sustainable management of electrical and electronic equipment from production to end-of-life", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 98-119. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQRM-02-2018-0055
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited