Re(thinking) Manufacturing

Robert D. Cormia

Foothill College

Overview

• A new paradigm

• Re => ‘cycling’

• Remanufacturing

• Demanufacturing

• Local manufacturing

• Repair and reuse

The Value of Materials

Materials

Manufacturing

MaterialReprocessing

ProductRecycling

How Would Nature Do It?

• Not like us!• Systems and cycles• Waste = food• Cradle to Cradle• Biomimetic

New Materials Paradigm

• Minimize extraction

• Maximize reuse

• Repurpose by design

• Learn to re: ‘cycle’– Up-cycling– Down-cycling

Re- ‘Cycle’

Reduce

Reuse Repurpose

http://www.mcdonough.com/cradle_to_cradle.htm

Remaking the Way We make Things

Cradle to Cradle

• Roundtrip materials use – ‘end-to-end’

• Manufactured using a minimum of new (virgin) material

• Mandated demanufacturing and recovery of existing material

Waste => Food

• Material waste is the driver of more extraction, more energy use, and more pollution to the environment.

• Deconstruction and reuse is the ‘natural cycle’ approach.

Story of Stuff

Single Use Batteries

Remote controls, toys, flashlights, smoke detectors—these are just some of the products that require batteries in our daily lives. Over three billion dry cell batteries are sold each year in the U.S. Because batteries disposed of in municipal landfills and trash incinerators can disperse significant amounts of heavy metals and other toxic substances into the air and water, battery waste prevention and recycling strategies are essential.

http://earth911.com/hazardous/single-use-batteries/

Material Scarcity

• Declining metal / mineral production across the globe

• Increasing energy to extract metals from lower grade ore

• Competition for scarcer resources

Recycling as an Ethic

• Plastic• Glass• Metal• Paper• Biowaste• Cardboard• Batteries• E-waste• Organs

Benefits of Recycling

• Local jobs

• Local wages

• Balance of payments

• Reuse of material

• Lower energy

• Lower ‘consumption’

• Cheaper than trash

http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-benefits.html

Material Cycling Value

• Down-cycling– Conserving value

• Up-cycling– Adding value

• Re-cycling– Preserving value

duraflame stax / Java Log

Repurposing – Waste => FoodCoffee grinds can be 100% composted

Recycled material => post wasteBlended with renewable materialsLower carbon – cleaner burning

As Good as Wood?

Or Better?

The Green Cycles

• Recycling is processing used materials into new products, which results in less waste of potentially useful materials, less consumption of fresh raw materials, less energy usage and less water and air pollution.

• Precycling is thinking ahead before you buy. This can reduce the buildup of waste, items to landfills and even can save you money.

• Freecycling is giving away items for free instead of throwing them away. A great reusing network can be created.

• Upcycling is creating useful items from recycled material. This results in less waste and even can save money through reusing and not having to buy again.

• Downcycling is reusing or recycling of a product for an alternative lesser-quality purpose to keep it out of landfills or elsewhere.

• E-cycling is the recycling of electronics. E-cycling helps to prevent some e-waste such as lead, mercury, cadmium and other toxins to enter the environment.

http://www.examiner.com/x-17027-Louisville-Green-Living-Examiner~y2009m8d5-The-green-cycles-recycling-precycling-freecycling-upcycling-downcycling-and-ecycling

Industrial Ecologies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_ecology

Extended Producer Responsibility

• OEM ‘take it back’– Cradle to grave approach– Efficient ‘reintegration’

• Pooled take-back (consortia)– Leverage best practice– Develop economies of scale

• Third party (vendor) – Specialists– Industrial ecosystems

Remanufacturing Lifecycle

Remanufacturing Institute

http://www.reman.org/

Toner Cartridges

• Most are recycled

• Ten lives or more

• Copiers may someday be ‘downcycled’

Demanufacturing• Demanufacturing is the disassembly 

and recycling of obsolete consumer products. The goal is to remove and recycle every component in an appliance. For example, the motherboard and metal parts of a computer are smelted and the metals are recovered. The TV tube in the monitor is recycled and turned into a new TV tube. The computers plastic housing is recovered and turned into new computer housings. The goal of the process is to reuse all of the materials that make up the computer, not throw them away.

http://www.greenbiz.com/feature/2001/07/16/the-demanufacturing-difference

Demanufacturing Jobs

These are good jobs for hardworking people who are both industrious and diligent, doing precision work which often requires a lot of care!

The Value of These Jobs?

• Local employment

• All regions of US

• Growing in number

• All levels of skill

• Transportable

• Open to all walks of life / ‘preparedness’

Remanufacturing

• Rebuilding machines• Reclaiming tools at

end of life• Recondition and

refurbished• Cost effective

replacement parts• Reduce virgin

material extraction

http://www.airbrakecomponents.net/

Industrial Applications

• Electronics

• Automobiles

• PHEV retrofits

• Buildings

• Furniture

• Clothing

• Toys

APRA Automotive Parts Remanufacturers Association

• APRA is a non-profit trade association whose members rebuild/remanufacture automotive and truck related "hard" parts for passenger cars, trucks, off-road, marine, equipment and industrial uses. These parts include, but are not limited to, alternators, armatures, generators, starters, carburetors, clutches, distributors, connecting rods, crankshafts, cylinder blocks, engine assemblies, fuel pumps, brakes, master and wheel brake cylinders, power brakes, starter drives, solenoids, automatic transmissions, regulators, springs, windshield wiper motors and water pumps.  http://www.apra.org/

Automotive Parts

• Engines

• Transmissions

• Clutch

• Drive shafts

• Bearing assemblies

• Fuel injection

• Alternators

Engine Reassembly

• Diesel (passenger)

• Diesel (truck)• Older engines• Turbo chargers• Salvage

Engine Reassembly

Engine Reconditioning

Automotive Batteries

• Lead acid batteries• Nickel metal hydride• Lithium ion phosphate• PHEV batteries• EV battery racks• NEV batteries

www.batterymd.com

http://www.intergears.co.uk/ 

Modular Building Solutions

Almost end of life condition for this building

Almost brand new condition for these buildings

LEED Building – Success!

We are beginning to make progress on both ‘reuse’ and reduction of virgin material

Manufacturing Energy?

Biosynthetic Fuels

• Agrifuels– Diverted food

• Biofuels– Diverted waste

• Biosynthetic fuels– Recycled CO2

Biomimetic Process• Waste = Food• Self-assemble, from the ground up• Evolve solutions, don't plan them• Relentlessly adjust to the here & now• Cooperate AND compete, not just one or the other• Diversify to fill every niche• Gather energy & materials efficiently• Optimize the system rather than maximizing components• The whole is greater than the sum of its parts--design for swarm• Use minimal energy & materials "Don’t foul your nest“• Organize fractally• Chemical reactions should be in water at normal temperature & pressure• Vogel's mechanical-engineering-specific principles

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003680.html

Design by Intention

Repair and Reuse

• A second life• Not remanufacturing• Extends original

product value• Adds skilled labor• Builds local labor• Low materials cost• Strong customer

satisfaction

Organ Recycling - Reuse

• There are things which cannot be (re)manufactured (at least not yet).

• Be a blood donor

• Be an organ donor

• Realize the living potential of reuse

The Road Ahead

• Nanomanufacturing

• Human reassembly

• Continuous redesign

• Like software

• Biomimicry

Where to Learn More

• The Remanufacturing Institute - http://www.reman.org/

• ARPA – http://www.arpa.org/

• Battery MD - http://www.batterymd.com/

• Intergears – http://www.intergears.co.uk/

• Green Citizen - http://www.greencitizen.com/

• http://www.recycling-revolution.com/