340
T. Sugahara et al.
to a circulating society. Specifically, reuse should be particularly promoted because
it produces less waste and consumes less energy.
Though accurate prediction of collected part quantity and quality is necessary to
carry out production considering the reused parts by enterprise, this prediction is
difficult for a number of reasons such as the diversity of the utilization form of the
consumer. In addition, it is difficult for the consumer who uses the product to conduct
the appropriate operation, management, and maintenance of the component unit of
the product (Nanjo et al. 2015). These problems hinder the formation of a circulating
society.
To effectively reuse machine parts for the development of sustainable society
(Hauschild et al. 2005) based on 3R, it is indispensable to manage individual parts
throughout their life cycle.
Yokoki et al. (Yokoki et al. 2015) developed a “part agent system” that controls
the life cycle of individual parts and supports producer and consumer reuse to realize
a circulating society.
A part agent is a network agent that autonomously acts corresponding to an individual part, and manages information regarding a part that constitutes a product from
manufacturing to disposal. It also proposes actions such as disposal and reuse to a
user at an appropriate time, and promotes 3R.
It is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of a part agent by implementing it in an
actual product and using the product throughout its life cycle. Therefore, Tanigawa
et al. (Tanigawa et al. 2018) developed a system that simulates the behavior of
parts and products throughout the entire life cycle with the part agent installed.
In this study, it was considered that the method of reuse desired by each person
was different according to the individual’s thinking and the surrounding; thus, we
developed a multiple reuse method. By properly conducting the simulation using the
setting of the reuse method, a simulation considering various users using the part
agent is possible.
24.2 Part Agent System
A network agent associated with a part is termed a part agent. The part agent
follows the corresponding part by moving within the network and manages the state
throughout the part life cycle. As products and parts move to various site in there
life cycle such as production factories, dealers, users, and repair shops in the real
world, part agents also move within the network following the real products and parts,
providing necessary information according to the life cycle stages when necessary,
determining appropriate maintenance actions for parts and users, and proposing these
actions to users.
Our proposal assumes the spread of networks and high-precision radio frequency
identifier (RFID) technology (Borriello 2005); thus, a part agent is generated during
the manufacturing phase when an RFID tag is attached to each part. The part agent
identifies the ID of the RFID tag during the part life cycle, tracking the part through the
T. Sugahara et al.
to a circulating society. Specifically, reuse should be particularly promoted because
it produces less waste and consumes less energy.
Though accurate prediction of collected part quantity and quality is necessary to
carry out production considering the reused parts by enterprise, this prediction is
difficult for a number of reasons such as the diversity of the utilization form of the
consumer. In addition, it is difficult for the consumer who uses the product to conduct
the appropriate operation, management, and maintenance of the component unit of
the product (Nanjo et al. 2015). These problems hinder the formation of a circulating
society.
To effectively reuse machine parts for the development of sustainable society
(Hauschild et al. 2005) based on 3R, it is indispensable to manage individual parts
throughout their life cycle.
Yokoki et al. (Yokoki et al. 2015) developed a “part agent system” that controls
the life cycle of individual parts and supports producer and consumer reuse to realize
a circulating society.
A part agent is a network agent that autonomously acts corresponding to an individual part, and manages information regarding a part that constitutes a product from
manufacturing to disposal. It also proposes actions such as disposal and reuse to a
user at an appropriate time, and promotes 3R.
It is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of a part agent by implementing it in an
actual product and using the product throughout its life cycle. Therefore, Tanigawa
et al. (Tanigawa et al. 2018) developed a system that simulates the behavior of
parts and products throughout the entire life cycle with the part agent installed.
In this study, it was considered that the method of reuse desired by each person
was different according to the individual’s thinking and the surrounding; thus, we
developed a multiple reuse method. By properly conducting the simulation using the
setting of the reuse method, a simulation considering various users using the part
agent is possible.
24.2 Part Agent System
A network agent associated with a part is termed a part agent. The part agent
follows the corresponding part by moving within the network and manages the state
throughout the part life cycle. As products and parts move to various site in there
life cycle such as production factories, dealers, users, and repair shops in the real
world, part agents also move within the network following the real products and parts,
providing necessary information according to the life cycle stages when necessary,
determining appropriate maintenance actions for parts and users, and proposing these
actions to users.
Our proposal assumes the spread of networks and high-precision radio frequency
identifier (RFID) technology (Borriello 2005); thus, a part agent is generated during
the manufacturing phase when an RFID tag is attached to each part. The part agent
identifies the ID of the RFID tag during the part life cycle, tracking the part through the