High-mix/low-volume batch of electronic equipment disassembly

This paper presents a procedure to disassemble electronic products with multiple subassembly modules. First, a partial schedule for each subassembly is obtained. The next step modifies the partial schedule in order to minimize the machine idle time at the retrieval process and, thus, the resulting makespan of the whole process. The procedure offers an optimal process makespan according to the sequence in which the batch of products pass through the disassembly and recovery processes. Special emphasis is placed on applying variant process planning methodology for disassembly and retrieval.