Design for Product Lifetime Quick Reference Guide

Access a product’s components. Keep it alive longer. Enable a responsible end-of-life.

Design for Disassembly Design for Repair Design for Recycling

Ensure products are easy to take apart quickly. Ensure product repair is simple for everyone. Make it easy to properly dispose of the product.

Parts Product Architecture Materials

Minimize the number of parts. Use modular assemblies that enable the replacement of Choose materials that are recycled everywhere.
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discrete components.
Simplify structure and form. Minimize the number of materials used. When possible,
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Ensure easy access to parts likely to need maintenance. use only one.

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Use ferromagnetic materials to enable sorting and disassembly.
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Use self-locating parts. Label parts with recycling codes or other permanent

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Tools & Fasteners ways to identify materials.
Use robust connectors.

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Require only a few standard tools. Avoid paints, additives, and surface treatments.

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Label and color-code parts to enable troubleshooting.
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Use inherent color.
Avoid requiring tools for the most common actions. Standardize between product lines and across generations.
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Avoid combinations of materials that are difficult to separate.

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Minimize the number and variety of fasteners.
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Documents Make it easy to separate components that are

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Use intuitive snap-fits, clips, or sliding connections. hazardous, toxic, or not conventionally recyclable.
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Make technical documentation freely available or

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Design connections that are visually and physically accessible.
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open-sourced. Business
Access fasteners from the same axis.
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Include parts list and part numbers.

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Specify the use of recycled materials in your products

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Hold multiple parts with one fastener.
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Create user interfaces and troubleshooting tools to (this also helps stimulate demand for recycling).

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Use coarse threaded screws for speed; use nuts and bolts diagnose problems.
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Create easy take-back programs to ensure proper

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for strength.
disposal of complicated products.
Use human-scale fasteners. Business
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Use hand-strength press-fits instead of tight press-fits. Make repair and services options clear to customers.
Design for Remanufacturing
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Avoid glues, and use only glues that are easily soluble or Consider repair-friendly warranty terms.
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heat reversible. Enable reuse of old components in new products.

Make replacement parts available and affordable.
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Ensure fasteners are adequate for structural integrity. Business

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Use fasteners that will hold up over repeated use. Design for Upgrade Create product-as-service business model.
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Keep products relevant and useful longer. Design smooth touchpoints between the company and users.

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Documents
Design a quality-control system for testing returned

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Embed clear, graphical disassembly instructions onto the product. Product Architecture components.
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Document materials and methods for deconstruction for Use standard-size modular parts to enable
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the user. interchangeability and customization.

Design easy access to parts likely to become obsolete.
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Use standard, cross-platform connections (for example, USB).

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Documents
Sustainability Workshop
Build diagnostic tools to help users understand
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sustainabilityworkshop.autodesk.com the components that are limiting performance.