Ph. D. Project
Title:
Co-Engineering of regeneration systems and products throughout the product life cycle
Dates:
2023/09/18 - 2026/09/17
Student:
Supervisor(s):
Other supervisor(s):
Pr Peggy Zwolinski (Peggy.Zwolinski@grenoble-inp.fr)
Description:
In recent years, Europe's manufacturing industries have had to contend with a number of problems relating to the supply of raw materials, both for
environmental and geopolitical reasons. As far as environmental issues are concerned, numerous socio-economic studies show that natural resources are
running out and that our consumption patterns consumption patterns are producing large quantities of waste that are damaging our environment and leading
to climate change [3][11][12]. From a societal point of view, behavioural changes in consumption and usage patterns need to be drastic if they are to have a
rapid and positive impact on the environment, so they cannot be the only lever for action. As for the geopolitical aspects, the health crisis linked to Covid
and ongoing conflicts show that Europe has globalised too much of its raw material supplies, making it vulnerable in times of crisis. In response,
governments at both national and European level are introducing legislation to encourage companies to set up processes to recycle products that have
already been sold. For example, Décathlon must implement measures to comply with the AGEC law of February 2020, allowing the regeneration of sports
equipment at the end of its useful life.
One long-term approach to this recycling challenge is to implement the circular economy, which focuses on the way products are produced, used and
recycled at the end of their life, in order to consume less energy and fewer raw materials, and so reduce their environmental impact throughout their life
cycle [6]. This requires the joint design of a product and the industrial and information ecosystem to make the product more robust. Ecosystem to make the
product more robust, capable of lasting longer, being maintained and envisaging several cycles of use [4][8][9].
Against this backdrop, three laboratories - CRAN, IMS and G-SCOP - have set up the ANR RegEcoS project, which aims to provide answers to this societal
and scientific challenge by developing methods, models and tools adapted to the industrialisation of product regeneration at the end of their useful life. All
the possibilities (reuse, remanufacturing, recycling, etc.) for upgrading a product after use and thus postponing its end-of-life are grouped together under the
term regeneration [7]. Regeneration requires a global and integrated vision of revalorisation (as opposed to a traditional, highly segmented and local vision),
across the product's life cycle, since it can be considered several times in the life of the same product and all or some of its sub-assemblies and components.
Regeneration cannot be approached in the same way as a conventional production process, due to the specific nature of the flow of products treated (waste,
flows that are not constant in quantity and quality), the information available for decision-making (heterogeneous, incomplete, uncertain, etc.) and the
expected effect of regeneration, which depends on the state of health of the product at the end of its use and on market demand. In addition, in order to
envisage several regeneration phases in the life of a product, it must be capable of regeneration and must be designed for regeneration (Design for
Regeneration). In addition, the regeneration process, which will take place later and several times in the life of a product, must be adapted and sized
according to the specific characteristics of the product and the needs of the market.
To address these issues, the RegEcoS project has identified three major scientific locks: (Lock 1) the need to integrate all the parameters of the product
ecosystem into the regeneration process right from the design stage, in order to promote the implementation of the best possible regeneration alternatives
throughout the product's life [10][5], (Lock2) the lack of a decision-support approach for the regeneration strategy based on heterogeneous, incomplete and
uncertain sources of information from different life phases and different processes [1][5][6][14], (Lock 3) the need to integrate all the parameters of the
product ecosystem into the regeneration process, in order to promote the implementation of the best possible regeneration alternatives throughout the
product's life [10][5]. Regeneration strategy based on heterogeneous, incomplete and uncertain sources of information, coming from different life phases
and different processes [1][5][6][14], (Lock 3) Need to gather and capitalise on information on all the life phases of a product and in particular its use
(operational conditions, constraints, etc.) to be able to anticipate its subsequent uses [10]. Faced with these challenges, the RegEcoS project aims to propose
a methodology for the integrated design of a product and its regeneration ecosystem. The regeneration ecosystem brings together support systems for
monitoring the use of a product during its lifetime (information system, digital twin [13], etc.), and methods to help in the regeneration decision, with a view
to extending the product's lifetime.
The subject of this thesis relates to locks 1 and 2, i.e. the specification of the regeneration system and the decision support system for the best regeneration
strategy as a function of various parameters on the product, on the regeneration process [1][6][14], but also on information from the demand for regenerated
products. The engineering of these two systems will be carried out in conjunction with the engineering of the product at the design stage.
During the life of the product and following these various regenerations, it will be necessary to rethink the engineering of the regeneration and decision
support systems in the light of changes in market demand and product use. This possible reverse engineering will have to be taken into account in the
method proposed for designing the regeneration system.
environmental and geopolitical reasons. As far as environmental issues are concerned, numerous socio-economic studies show that natural resources are
running out and that our consumption patterns consumption patterns are producing large quantities of waste that are damaging our environment and leading
to climate change [3][11][12]. From a societal point of view, behavioural changes in consumption and usage patterns need to be drastic if they are to have a
rapid and positive impact on the environment, so they cannot be the only lever for action. As for the geopolitical aspects, the health crisis linked to Covid
and ongoing conflicts show that Europe has globalised too much of its raw material supplies, making it vulnerable in times of crisis. In response,
governments at both national and European level are introducing legislation to encourage companies to set up processes to recycle products that have
already been sold. For example, Décathlon must implement measures to comply with the AGEC law of February 2020, allowing the regeneration of sports
equipment at the end of its useful life.
One long-term approach to this recycling challenge is to implement the circular economy, which focuses on the way products are produced, used and
recycled at the end of their life, in order to consume less energy and fewer raw materials, and so reduce their environmental impact throughout their life
cycle [6]. This requires the joint design of a product and the industrial and information ecosystem to make the product more robust. Ecosystem to make the
product more robust, capable of lasting longer, being maintained and envisaging several cycles of use [4][8][9].
Against this backdrop, three laboratories - CRAN, IMS and G-SCOP - have set up the ANR RegEcoS project, which aims to provide answers to this societal
and scientific challenge by developing methods, models and tools adapted to the industrialisation of product regeneration at the end of their useful life. All
the possibilities (reuse, remanufacturing, recycling, etc.) for upgrading a product after use and thus postponing its end-of-life are grouped together under the
term regeneration [7]. Regeneration requires a global and integrated vision of revalorisation (as opposed to a traditional, highly segmented and local vision),
across the product's life cycle, since it can be considered several times in the life of the same product and all or some of its sub-assemblies and components.
Regeneration cannot be approached in the same way as a conventional production process, due to the specific nature of the flow of products treated (waste,
flows that are not constant in quantity and quality), the information available for decision-making (heterogeneous, incomplete, uncertain, etc.) and the
expected effect of regeneration, which depends on the state of health of the product at the end of its use and on market demand. In addition, in order to
envisage several regeneration phases in the life of a product, it must be capable of regeneration and must be designed for regeneration (Design for
Regeneration). In addition, the regeneration process, which will take place later and several times in the life of a product, must be adapted and sized
according to the specific characteristics of the product and the needs of the market.
To address these issues, the RegEcoS project has identified three major scientific locks: (Lock 1) the need to integrate all the parameters of the product
ecosystem into the regeneration process right from the design stage, in order to promote the implementation of the best possible regeneration alternatives
throughout the product's life [10][5], (Lock2) the lack of a decision-support approach for the regeneration strategy based on heterogeneous, incomplete and
uncertain sources of information from different life phases and different processes [1][5][6][14], (Lock 3) the need to integrate all the parameters of the
product ecosystem into the regeneration process, in order to promote the implementation of the best possible regeneration alternatives throughout the
product's life [10][5]. Regeneration strategy based on heterogeneous, incomplete and uncertain sources of information, coming from different life phases
and different processes [1][5][6][14], (Lock 3) Need to gather and capitalise on information on all the life phases of a product and in particular its use
(operational conditions, constraints, etc.) to be able to anticipate its subsequent uses [10]. Faced with these challenges, the RegEcoS project aims to propose
a methodology for the integrated design of a product and its regeneration ecosystem. The regeneration ecosystem brings together support systems for
monitoring the use of a product during its lifetime (information system, digital twin [13], etc.), and methods to help in the regeneration decision, with a view
to extending the product's lifetime.
The subject of this thesis relates to locks 1 and 2, i.e. the specification of the regeneration system and the decision support system for the best regeneration
strategy as a function of various parameters on the product, on the regeneration process [1][6][14], but also on information from the demand for regenerated
products. The engineering of these two systems will be carried out in conjunction with the engineering of the product at the design stage.
During the life of the product and following these various regenerations, it will be necessary to rethink the engineering of the regeneration and decision
support systems in the light of changes in market demand and product use. This possible reverse engineering will have to be taken into account in the
method proposed for designing the regeneration system.
Department(s):
| Modeling and Control of Industrial Systems |
