Application of agent technology for recycling-oriented product assessment

Purpose - The paper aims to describe ideas and implementation of the computer tool for computer-aided and recycling-oriented design. Currently, there is a strong tendency to take into account the impact of a product on the natural environment. The authors concentrated on the issue of the recycling process of the product, taking into account the phase of its design. The purpose, structure, technology and example results are presented in this paper. Design/methodology/approach - It was assumed that analysis will be performed based on a set of measures of a product. These measures (developed by the authors), describing the product from the recycling point of view, are calculated automatically, according to the changes (variants) in the product's model. The presented tool is based on agent technology. The structure of the system the agents, its roles and communication between them has been described. Findings - The main achievement of the work presented in this paper is the method supporting eco-design based on agent technology. Based on the analysis of the process of recycling-oriented eco-design, the authors designed and then implemented the tool that aids designers' activities in the area of eco-design. The drawn-up method supports decision making concerning designing environmental-friendly products. Thanks to agent technology, the design process can be conducted in the distributed design environment. Research limitations/implications - The usage of the presented computer-aided and recycling-oriented system during the design process requires the duplication of some of the engineer's work. The analysis is performed within the presented tool, outside the typical contemporary design environment, such as CAD 3D systems. As a consequence, there is a need to enter the product structure into the described system, which can be inconvenient. The further work of the authors assumes implementation of this concept into a CAD 3D system. Originality/value - There has been a limited amount of research work regarding application agent technology in the field of end-of-life oriented design. The structure of the system, the measurements and idea of extension of product structure are the original results of the work. The results could be implemented into commercial computer-aided design systems, especially into its PLM (product lifecycle management) group, due to the weak representation of end-of-life phases in these tools.