TY - JOUR
T1 - A decision support tool for e-waste recycling operations using the hen-and-chicks bio-inspired optimization metaheuristic
AU - Rahman, Md Mamunur
AU - Nguyen, Ruby
AU - Severson, Michael
AU - Williams, Sophie
AU - Hartley, Damon
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors appreciate the time and effort that the anonymous reviewers have dedicated to providing valuable feedback on the manuscript. The authors would like to thank the industry partner for providing the necessary data, testing the effectiveness of the tool in daily operations, and providing feedback for improvements. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Advanced Manufacturing Office Award Number DE-EE0007897 awarded to the REMADE Institute, a division of Sustainable Manufacturing Innovation Alliance Corp. © This manuscript has been authored by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC07-05ID14517 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes.
Funding Information:
The authors appreciate the time and effort that the anonymous reviewers have dedicated to providing valuable feedback on the manuscript. The authors would like to thank the industry partner for providing the necessary data, testing the effectiveness of the tool in daily operations, and providing feedback for improvements. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Advanced Manufacturing Office Award Number DE-EE0007897 awarded to the REMADE Institute, a division of Sustainable Manufacturing Innovation Alliance Corp. © This manuscript has been authored by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC07-05ID14517 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s)
PY - 2023/6
Y1 - 2023/6
N2 - E-waste from end-of-life electrical and electronic devices is one of the fastest growing waste streams from households and businesses. E-waste recycling yields environmental sustainability and economic benefits. Due to continuous changes in e-waste types and compositions, recycling businesses face challenges to optimize their operational configuration to achieve better economic and environmental performance. To help e-waste recyclers mitigate this problem, we have developed a modular decision support tool called the Comprehensive Manufacturing Assessment Tool (CMAT) that can simulate both e-waste recycling operations and economics. This tool can give valuable insights regarding the profitability of the entire operation and different e-waste types. In addition, a new bio-inspired metaheuristic optimization algorithm, hen-and-chicks optimization (HACO), was developed to assign manpower to different workstations to maximize operational efficiencies. According to the results of our case study, laptops, desktops, and computer peripherals are the three electronic waste products that produce the most profit. Our examination of the sensitivity of material prices shows that the price of steel has the most significant influence on total profit, because it is the most widely used material in the majority of electronic devices. We have released the decision support tool as open-source software under a general public license. It could be customized for other recycling industries beyond e-waste to achieve business sustainability by making their operations more efficient.
AB - E-waste from end-of-life electrical and electronic devices is one of the fastest growing waste streams from households and businesses. E-waste recycling yields environmental sustainability and economic benefits. Due to continuous changes in e-waste types and compositions, recycling businesses face challenges to optimize their operational configuration to achieve better economic and environmental performance. To help e-waste recyclers mitigate this problem, we have developed a modular decision support tool called the Comprehensive Manufacturing Assessment Tool (CMAT) that can simulate both e-waste recycling operations and economics. This tool can give valuable insights regarding the profitability of the entire operation and different e-waste types. In addition, a new bio-inspired metaheuristic optimization algorithm, hen-and-chicks optimization (HACO), was developed to assign manpower to different workstations to maximize operational efficiencies. According to the results of our case study, laptops, desktops, and computer peripherals are the three electronic waste products that produce the most profit. Our examination of the sensitivity of material prices shows that the price of steel has the most significant influence on total profit, because it is the most widely used material in the majority of electronic devices. We have released the decision support tool as open-source software under a general public license. It could be customized for other recycling industries beyond e-waste to achieve business sustainability by making their operations more efficient.
KW - Business analytics
KW - Decision support system
KW - E-waste
KW - Recycling
KW - Resource conservation
KW - Sustainability
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85152273912
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/d79c910a-cf99-3d67-83df-48b6806c597e/
U2 - 10.1016/j.dajour.2023.100216
DO - 10.1016/j.dajour.2023.100216
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85152273912
SN - 2772-6622
VL - 7
JO - Decision Analytics Journal
JF - Decision Analytics Journal
M1 - 100216
ER -