Fuzzy-Petri-net based disassembly planning considering human factors

Disassembly, as the process of systematic removal of desirable constituent parts from an assembly, is of growing importance due to increasing environmental and economic pressures. Currently, disassembly is manual and labor intensive. Little attention has been paid to human operations that are the indispensable part of the whole disassembly system. This paper addresses human factor issues in disassembly. A fuzzy attributed Petri net (FAPN) is proposed to mathematically model uncertainties in disassembly processes due to different skill levels of human operators. A heuristic algorithm is further developed to configure a cost-effective disassembly sequence for a discarded product. An example is given to illustrate the methodology.