Int. J Sup. Chain. Mgt Vol. 1, No. 3, December 2012 11 Management of a Disassembly Line using Two Types of Kanbans Kenichi Nakashima 1 , Mitsutoshi Kojima 2 , Surendra M. Gupta 3 1 Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Kanagawa University 3-27-1 Rokkakubashi, Yokohama, Japan 2 Department of Systems Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology Gokiso-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Japan 3 Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University Boston, MA, 02115, USA 1 nakashima@kanagawa-u.ac.jp 2 mitsukojima@nitech.ac.jp 3 gupta@neu.edu Abstract—The continuous growth in consumer waste has seriously threatened the environment. For this reason, environment conscious manufacturing has emerged to be an important attribute that has been embraced by companies to support the environmental laws, social responsibilities as well as profitability resulting in increased awareness of product recovery. One of the first operations in product recovery is disassembly which involves the separation of the desired components, subassemblies, and materials from end-of-life or returned products. A disassembly line is perhaps the most suitable setting for disassembly of products in large quantities. In this paper, a multi-kanban mechanism using two types of kanbans, viz., a component kanban and a subassembly kanban, is used to control the disassembly line. We consider an example from the automobile industry to illustrate the methodology and investigate the fluctuations in components and subassemblies inventories, average waiting times and backorder rates using simulation. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of utilizing the multi- kanban mechanism in a disassembly line. Keywords— Multi-kanban system, disassembly, product recovery, reverse supply chain, environmental issues. 1. Introduction The production systems were traditionally designed for economic efficiency. This stance served us well for several centuries because the population on earth was small and people had modest needs. There was abundance of resources and their consumption rates were much smaller than their renewal rates. Consequently, the environment was never threatened and that issue never entered in our decision process. However, gradually things have changed. The manufacturing processes have been significantly improved with the introduction of initiatives such as assembly lines and supply chains. In addition, the aspirations of people have changed, the desire for latest fashions has deepened, competition has increased, and resources have been challenged. All these have resulted in shorter product life cycles and premature disposal of products. The resulting decrease in available landfills and natural resources has compelled many governments to mandate stricter environmental regulations on producers. Some of these regulations require firms to take back their products at the end of their useful lives. Manufacturers have tried to comply with these regulations by setting up efficient reverse supply chains [2], [11] and specific facilities for product recovery [6] which involves the minimization of the amount of waste sent to landfills by recovering materials and components from returned or end-of-life (EOL) products via recycling and remanufacturing [7]. What’s more, the economic benefits gained by reusing products, subassemblies and components instead of disposing of them has increased the importance of product recovery [5]. One of the first operations in product recovery is disassembly which involves the separation of the desired components, subassemblies, and materials from EOL or returned products [8]. Disassembly operations can be performed at a single workstation, in a disassembly cell or on a disassembly line. Although a single workstation and disassembly cell are more flexible, the highest productivity rate is provided by a disassembly line. ______________________________________________________________ International Journal of Supply Chain Management IJSCM, ISSN: 2050-7399 (Online), 2051-3771 (Print) Copyright © ExcelingTech Pub, UK (http://excelingtech.co.uk/)