Proposal of an Upgrade Planning Method for Upgradeable Product Design

Abstract

In order to reduce the environmental load caused by the mass waste produced by society, it is very important to achieve closed-loop product life cycles. To do so, it is necessary to extend a product physical life in a broad sense. Namely, there is not only physical life but also value life, which is terminated because of minor functions, and many products are abandoned at the end of this value life. We focus on the extension of this product value life and propose a design methodology for upgradeable products. The objective of this study is to propose a method for extending the period of usefulness of various products. To do this, it is necessary to make an upgrade plan that includes the specifications of all products in every product generation. To make this upgrade plan more realistic and flexible, future technological trends and user demands, which are influenced by these technical trends, must be predicted. An objective of this report is to produce a general plan for upgrading products that considers flows from technological trends to user demands.