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Congrès International sur l’Analyse du Cycle de Vie Lille, Novembre 2011
LCA of a refrigerator: A case study to optimize product modular design for reducing
environmental impact in a closed-looped supply chain
A. Cacherat 1 N. Lecocq 1 G. Kremer 2
1 Univ. Artois, IUT de Béthune, F-62400 Béthune, France
2
School of Engineering Design and Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering,
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
alexandre.cacherat@gmail.com; nathalie.lecocq@univ-artois.fr; gek3@engr.psu.edu
Keywords: closed loop supply chains, reverse logistics, multi-criteria optimization, eco-design of products
1. Introduction
Most manufactured products are designed in a modular fashion in order to reduce costs while
maintaining high levels of variety to satisfy customer needs. This logic, however, often can be contrary to
reducing environmental impact; for example, modular architectures may require additional interfaces to
enable assembly/disassembly as well as transportation among module suppliers and the final assembler.
On the other hand, modularity can also be an asset if modules are designed to support recovery for
component reuse or raw material recycling. In fact, material recovery is a part of many environmentally
focused legislations around the world (e.g., European WEEE directive), and hence, design for material and
component recovery during reverse logistics is gaining importance. Accordingly, we are interested in ecodesign
of products with a vision to reduce the adverse environmental impact in global closed-loop supply
chains. For a more sustainable development, we not only need to account for the cost of the manufactured
products but also their environmental and social impacts throughout their life cycle.
2. Methodology
In our case study, we have used an American made refrigerator (Whirlpool) [2]. Through a
structured product dissection approach, we have disassembled and identified all components of the
refrigerator, and gathered information on the materials and manufacturing processes of components
corresponding to approximately 80% of the overall product mass. Compressor is one module we did not
dissect into its several much smaller components. This gathered information at the component level is then
used to conduct an LCA, which will be used as part of the multi-criteria model to concurrently optimize
supply chain performance as well as the product architecture. This model is being developed at the
ADAPS lab of Penn State [3].
3. Product Dissection
1-2-3).
First stage of the methodology required disassembling all components of the refrigerator (cf. Fig.
Fig. 1-2-3 : Disassembly of the refrigerator
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