Integrated multi-layer representation and ant colony search for product selective disassembly planning

•A multi-layer representation is introduced based on the product bill-of-material (BoM).•Integration of the product representation and ant colony search enables the optimal disassembly sequence solution.•A dynamic product model is integrated with the sequence search to reduce the data stored and to increase the search efficiency.•Industrial applications have proven the proposed methods.

Selective disassembly plays an important role in product life cycle to meet requirements of the product repairing, reusing and recycling. An efficient disassembly plan is essential to minimize processing time in product maintenance for cost saving. This paper introduces a method for integration of the multi-layer product representation and the optimal search in product selective disassembly planning. The multi-layer representation is based on the product structure formed in product design. The method enables an efficient search for the disassembly sequence. Unlike the existing product representation methods, the multi-layer representation is a dynamic product data model integrated with an ant colony search process for a near optimal solution. Industrial applications have proven the method effectiveness.