In this research, a new method of optimizing component layout and fastening methods inside a product is developed for the facilitation of reuse and recycle. Due to rise of environmental awareness and enactment of legislation in recent years, products that reach their end-of-life need to be collected, disassembled and reused / recycled. However, since only high value components are reused / recycled and the rest is discarded from a cost effective standpoint, they need to be easily removed. In addition, since some components require regular maintenance, they also need to be easily removed / accessed. Therefore, the proposed method explores component layout and fastening methods in which their components can be removed with minimum disassembly time and effort by executing layout optimization and fastening method optimization cooperatively. In the case study, the proposed method is applied to design of internal devices of a laptop computer and the result is compared with the existing laptop computer.
