Title: Recycling method
Abstract: A recycling method enables closed-loop material recycling (CMR) to be smoothly performed while reducing the amount of a recovered material disposed of outside the CMR loop. The amount of use of recovered ABS in a copying machine in a product production division is determined on the basis of a plan to produce the copying machine in the product production division and the amount of production of recovered ABS in a recovered material production division for producing recovered ABS from used component parts. The amount of use may be determined by adjusting the mixing ratio of recovered ABS and virgin ABS in a regenerated material production division for producing regenerated ABS by mixing recovered ABS and virgin ABS.
Patent Number: 7,020,534 Issued on 03/28/2006 to Morii
| Inventors:
|
Morii; Yoshihiro (Kanagawa, JP)
|
| Assignee:
|
Ricoh Company, Ltd. (Tokyo, JP)
|
| Appl. No.:
|
855502 |
| Filed:
|
May 28, 2004 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
| Jun 06, 2003[JP] | 2003-162708 |
| Current U.S. Class: |
700/106; 700/99; 700/103 |
| Current Intern'l Class: |
G06F 19/00 (20060101) |
| Field of Search: |
700/95,97,106,213,296
|
References Cited [Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
| 5253994 | Oct., 1993 | Zweig et al.
| |
| 6000784 | Dec., 1999 | Takemoto et al.
| |
| 6217684 | Apr., 2001 | Morii et al.
| |
| 6224709 | May., 2001 | Takemoto et al.
| |
| 6435241 | Aug., 2002 | Morii et al.
| |
| 6471801 | Oct., 2002 | Takemoto et al.
| |
| 6472247 | Oct., 2002 | Andoh et al.
| |
| 6503358 | Jan., 2003 | Takemoto et al.
| |
| 6544376 | Apr., 2003 | Takemoto et al.
| |
| 6574054 | Jun., 2003 | Hirai et al.
| |
| 6575221 | Jun., 2003 | Morii et al.
| |
| 6627015 | Sep., 2003 | Takemoto et al.
| |
| 6679442 | Jan., 2004 | Morii et al.
| |
| 6693751 | Feb., 2004 | Morii et al.
| |
| 6726806 | Apr., 2004 | Takemoto et al.
| |
| 6856857 | Feb., 2005 | Tateishi et al.
| |
| 2002/0148090 | Oct., 2002 | Kaburagi et al.
| |
| 2003/0199596 | Oct., 2003 | Koike et al.
| |
Primary Examiner: Picard; Leo
Assistant Examiner: Rapp; Chad
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, P.C.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A recycling method in which a recovered material is reused for a new product,
said method comprising:
a product producing step of producing a product by assembling component parts;
a recovery step of recovering a used component part as the recovered material
from consumers;
a recovered material producing step of producing the recovered material from
the used component part;
a regenerated material producing step of producing a regenerated material by
mixing the recovered material with a virgin material not containing the recovered
material; and
a part producing step of producing a component part using the regenerated material,
wherein the amount of use of the recovered material in the product in said product
producing step is determined on the basis of a plan to produce the product and
the amount of recovery of the used component part in said recovery step.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the amount of use is determined,
in addition to or in replace of the amount of recovery, on the basis of the amount
of production of the recovered material in said recovered material producing step.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the amount of use is determined
by determining the mixing ratio of the virgin material and the recovered material
in said regenerated material producing step.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the amount of use is determined,
in addition to or in replace of the amount of recovery, on the basis of the amount
of production of the regenerated material in said regenerated material producing step.
5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the amount of use is determined
by determining the use ratio of a virgin-material component part in which only
the virgin material is used as a material and a regenerated-material-using component
part in which the regenerated material is used.
6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the recovered material,
the virgin material and the regenerated material comprises a plastic material.
7. A product producing method in which a regenerated-material-using component
part using a regenerated material obtained by mixing a recovered material produced
from a used component part recovered from consumers and a virgin material not containing
the recovered material is assembled on the basis of a production plan to produce
a product, said method comprising determining the amount of use of the recovered
material in the product on the basis of at least one of the amount of recovery
of the used component part from the consumers, the amount of production of the
recovered material and the amount of production of the regenerated material, and
on the basis of the production plan.
8. A part ordering method of ordering a regenerated-material-using component
part using a regenerated material obtained by mixing a recovered material produced
from a used component part recovered from consumers and a virgin material not containing
the recovered material, said method comprising determining the order ratio of the
regenerated-material-using component part and a virgin component part not including
the regenerated material on the basis of at least one of the amount of recovery
of the used component part from the consumers, the amount of production of the
recovered material and the amount of production of the regenerated material, and
on the basis of a plan to produce a product on which the regenerated-material-using
component part is mounted.
9. A mixing ratio determination method of determining the mixing ratio of a recovered
material produced from a used component part recovered from consumers and a virgin
material not containing the recovered material with respect to a regenerated material
obtained by mixing the recovered material and the virgin material, said method
comprising determining the mixing ratio on the basis of at least one of the amount
of recovery of the used component part from the consumers and the amount of production
of the recovered material and on the basis of a plan to produce a product on which
a component part using the regenerated material is mounted.
10. An information processing apparatus comprising:
information input means of accepting input of information;
computation means of performing predetermined computational processing on the
basis of the input information; and
information output means of outputting the results of computation performed by
said computation means,
wherein said computation means is arranged to perform computational processing
for computing the amount of use of a recovered material produced from a used component
part recovered from consumers in a product on which a regenerated-material-using
component part using a regenerated material obtained by mixing the recovered material
and a virgin material not containing the recovered material, said computation means
computing the amount of use on the basis of information on a plan to produce the
product and information on the amount of recovery of the used component part from consumers.
11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said computation means is arranged
to perform computational processing for computing the amount of use, in addition
to or in replace of the information on the amount of recovery, on the basis of
information on the amount of production of the recovered material.
12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said computation means is arranged
to perform computational processing for computing the mixing ratio of the virgin
material and the recovered material with respect to the regenerated material on
the basis of the amount of use.
13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein said computation means is arranged
to perform computational processing for limiting the proportion of the recovered
material in the mixing ratio to a value not larger than a predetermined upper limit value.
14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein said computation means is arranged
to perform computational processing for uniformly reducing the proportion of the
recovered material in the mixing ratio to 0 [%] when the proportion is lower than
a predetermined lower limit value.
15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said computation means is arranged
to perform computational processing for computing the amount of use, in addition
to or in replace of the information on the amount of recovery, on the basis of
information on the amount of production of the regenerated material.
16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said computation means is arranged
to perform computational processing for computing, on the basis of the amount of
use, with respect to the product, the use ratio of a virgin-material component
part in which only the virgin material is used as a material and a regenerated-material-using
component part in which the regenerated material is used.
17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein said computation means is arranged
to perform computational processing for changing the mixing ratio of the recovered
material to the virgin material in the generated-material-using component part
to a lower value and again obtaining the use ratio when the proportion of the recovered
material in the use ratio is lower than a predetermined lower limit, and for making
said information output means output the obtained use ratio and the changed mixing
ratio value.
18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said information output means
comprises communication means of outputting information to a communication circuit.
19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein said communication circuit
comprises an Internet circuit.
20. A machine-readable program used for an information processing apparatus which
performs predetermined computational processing, said program enabling a computer
to function as use amount computation means of computing the amount of use of a
recovered material obtained by disassembly of a used component part recovered from
consumers in a product on which a regenerated-material-using component part using
a regenerated material obtained by mixing the recovered material with a virgin
material not containing the recovered material, the computation means computing
the amount of use on the basis of at least one of information on the amount of
recovery of the used component part, information on the amount of production of
the recovered material and information on the amount of production of the regenerated
material, and on the basis of information on a plan to produce the product.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recycling method for recycling a material
in used component parts returned from consumers. The present invention also relates
to a product producing method, a part ordering method, a mixing ratio determination
method, an information processing apparatus and a program useful in recycling.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, consumers and investors have come to consider, in selecting a
company, to which extent the company contributes to environmental protection. For
this reason, it is urgently necessary for manufacturers to establish a recycling
system in which resources can be effectively used and wastes and energy consumption
can be effectively reduced and to make the recycling system operational.
In the past, products and parts of the products used to the ends of their lives
under users were ordinarily disposed of by waste treaters in a landfill manner
or otherwise. In recent years, however, processes for recycling products and parts
in various modes after the ends of their lives have been positively pursued in
consideration of environments.
As modes of such recycling, "private reuse", "product reuse", "part reuse", "closed-loop
material recycling (hereinafter referred to as CMR)", "reduction to raw material",
"energy recovery" and so on are known. In recent years, importance has been attached
particularly to the "CMR" mode in these modes of recycling. With "CMR", however,
there is a problem that the instability of the amount of recovered used parts hinders
"CMR" from being smoothly performed.
In "CMR", closed-loop material recycling of plastic materials in particular is
called "PCMR". As a recycling system for implementation of such recycling, a system
disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-181958 for example is known.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above-described circumstances, an object of the present invention
is to provide a recycling method which enables "CMR" to be smoothly performed while
reducing the amounts of recovered materials processed outside a "CMR" loop.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a product producing
method, a part ordering method, a mixing ratio determination method, an information
processing apparatus and a program useful in recycling.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a recycling method
in which a recovered material is reused for a new product. The method comprises
a product producing step of producing a product by assembling component parts,
a recovery step of recovering a used component part as the recovered material from
consumers, a recovered material producing step of producing the recovered material
from the used component part, a regenerated material producing step of producing
a regenerated material by mixing the recovered material with a virgin material
not containing the recovered material and a part producing step of producing a
component part using the regenerated material. The amount of use of the recovered
material in the product in said product producing step is determined on the basis
of a plan to produce the product and the amount of recovery of the used component
part in said recovery step.
In accordance with the present invention, there is also provided a product producing
method in which a regenerated-material-using component part using a regenerated
material obtained by mixing a recovered material produced from a used component
part recovered from consumers and a virgin material not containing the recovered
material is assembled on the basis of a production plan to produce a product. The
method comprises determining the amount of use of the recovered material in the
product on the basis of at least one of the amount of recovery of the used component
part from the consumers, the amount of production of the recovered material and
the amount of production of the regenerated material, and on the basis of the production plan.
In accordance with the present invention, there is also provided a part ordering
method of ordering a regenerated-material-using component part using a regenerated
material obtained by mixing a recovered material produced from a used component
part recovered from consumers and a virgin material not containing the recovered
material. The method comprises determining the order ratio of the regenerated-material-using
component part and a virgin component part not including the regenerated material
on the basis of at least one of the amount of recovery of the used component part
from the consumers, the amount of production of the recovered material and the
amount of production of the regenerated material, and on the basis of a plan to
produce a product on which the regenerated-material-using component part is mounted.
In accordance with the present invention, there is also provided a mixing ratio
determination method of determining the mixing ratio of a recovered material produced
from a used component part recovered from consumers and a virgin material not containing
the recovered material with respect to a regenerated material obtained by mixing
the recovered material and the virgin material. The method comprises determining
the mixing ratio on the basis of at least one of the amount of recovery of the
used component part from the consumers and the amount of production of the recovered
material and on the basis of a plan to produce a product on which a component part
using the regenerated material is mounted.
In accordance with the present invention, there is also provided an information
processing apparatus which comprises an information input device of accepting input
of information, a computation device of performing predetermined computational
processing on the basis of the input information and an information output device
of outputting the results of computation performed by said computation device.
The computation device is arranged to perform computational processing for computing
the amount of use of a recovered material produced from a used component part recovered
from consumers in a product on which a regenerated-material-using component part
using a regenerated material obtained by mixing the recovered material and a virgin
material not containing the recovered material. The computation device computes
the amount of use on the basis of information on a plan to produce the product
and information on the amount of recovery of the used component part from consumers.
In accordance with the present invention, there is also provided a machine-readable
program used for an information processing apparatus which performs predetermined
computational processing. The program enables a computer to function as use amount
computation device of computing the amount of use of a recovered material obtained
by disassembly of a used component part recovered from consumers in a product on
which a regenerated-material-using component part using a regenerated material
obtained by mixing the recovered material with a virgin material not containing
the recovered material. The computation device computes the amount of use on the
basis of at least one of information on the amount of recovery of the used component
part, information on the amount of production of the recovered material and information
on the amount of production of the regenerated material, and on the basis of information
on a plan to produce the product.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention
will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken with the
accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a material flow diagram showing a comet circle representing flows
of resources on the market;
FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing flows of "PCMR" performed by a product manufacturer
according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of an information
processing apparatus provided in the product manufacturer;
FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of an information
processing apparatus provided in the product manufacturer which performs "PCMR"
according to an example of modification of the first embodiment;
FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing flows of materials in product production performed
by the product manufacturer carrying out a product producing method according to
a second embodiment of the present invention and a flow of a material through external facilities;
FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing a personal computer provided in the
product production division of the product manufacturer;
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of computational processing executed
by the main unit of the personal computer shown in FIG. 6;
FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically showing a personal computer provided as an
information processing apparatus for a part ordering agent to carry out a part
ordering method according to a third embodiment of the present invention; and
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of computational processing executed
by the main unit of the personal computer shown in FIG. 8.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Concrete description will be made of the above-mentioned modes of recycling
with reference to the drawings before description of each of embodiments of the
present invention.
FIG. 1 shows material flows representing the flows of resources on the market
and commonly called a comet cycle. Referring to FIG. 1, a raw material provider
1 supplies a material manufacturer
2 with a row material refined
from a natural material. Under the material manufacturer
2, the supplied
raw material is processed into a part material (e.g., a plastic material) for forming
a component part. The component part finished by a part manufacturer
3 is
thereafter used as a portion of a product produced by a product manufacturer
4.
The produced product is supplied to users
6 through a seller
5 such
as a selling agent. The flow of the raw material to users is a basic resource flow.
Raw materials and part materials will be referred to simply as materials.
As already described above, products and parts of the products used to the ends
of their lives under users were ordinarily disposed of by waste treaters in a landfill
manner or otherwise. In recent years, however, processes for recycling products
and parts in various modes after the ends of their lives have been positively pursued
in consideration of environments. The simplest mode of recycling is the "private
reuse" mode indicated at (
1) in FIG. 1. In this mode of recycling, a product
or a part which has become unusable by a user is reused by being processed in a
certain manner by the user. For example, in the case of a copying machine product,
a toner replenishing operation is performed on an emptied toner container by a
user to recover the function of the toner container, thereby enabling reuse of
the toner container. In this manner, the material of the toner container is recycled.
There is no need to perform any machining on the product or the component part
or to put it in a circulation path, and processing based on a user's manual operation
can be performed. Therefore it can be said that this mode of recycling is of a
smallest environmental load.
The "product reuse" mode indicated at (
2) in FIG. 1 is next to the "private
reuse" mode in increasing order of environmental load. In this mode, a product
recovered from a user by a recovery facility such as a recovery center
8
is rebuilt by being overhauled or otherwise processed in a product rebuilding facility
such as a product rebuilding center
9, and is returned to the seller
5
in the above-described basic flow. For example, in the case of a copying machine,
a process cartridge manufactured as a product and constituted by a photosensitive
material and a development device or the entire copying machine is rebuilt, thereby
recycling materials. In this mode, a process for rebuilding in the product rebuilding
facility is performed, replacement of parts is required, and circulations through
the recovery facility, the rebuilding facility and the basic flow are included.
Therefore the environmental load in this mode is larger than that in the "private
use" mode. The difference between recycling of a product and recycling of a component
part resides in that the product is sold in a single state to users while the component
part is not sold in a single state to users.
The "part reuse" mode indicated at (
3) in FIG. 1 is next to the "product
reuse" mode in increasing order of environmental load. In this mode, a recovered
product is disassembled and separated into component parts in a disassembly facility
such as a recycling center
10 and some of the component parts are rebuilt
in a part rebuilding facility such as a part rebuilding center
11. The rebuilt
component parts are returned to an intermediate point in the basic flow by being
delivered to the product manufacturer
4. The environmental load in the "part
reuse" mode is larger than that in the "product reuse" mode since a larger number
of processes or circulations are required in comparison with the "product reuse" mode.
The "closed-loop material cycling (hereinafter referred to as CMR)" mode indicated
at (
4) in FIG. 1 is the next mode in increasing order of environmental load.
In this mode, a component part separated from a product is pulverized in a pulverization
facility such as a shredder
13 to be obtained as a recovered material. The
recovered material is mixed with a virgin material in a material regeneration facility
such as a material regenerator
14 to produce a regenerated material. The
regenerated material is supplied to the part manufacturer
3 to form a new
part. Thus, a larger number of processes or circulations is included in comparison
with the "part reuse" mode and the environmental load is correspondingly increased.
The "reduction to raw material" mode indicated at (
5) in FIG. 1 is next
to the "CMR" mode in increasing order of environmental load. In this mode, a recovered
material obtained by pulverization of a component part is used not in its present
composition but after being reduced to a raw material. Since a process for reduction
to a raw material and the corresponding circulation are included, the environmental
load is increased in comparison with the "CMR" mode.
The recycling mode having the largest environmental load is the "energy recovery"
mode indicated at (
6) in FIG. 1. In this mode, a burnable material such
a plastic material is effectively used as a fuel. In this mode, recycling after
such use cannot be performed and, therefore, the environmental load is maximized.
As described above, the "private reuse" mode is most preferable from the viewpoint
of reducing the environmental load. However, it is impossible to perpetually perform
recycling in this mode only. This is because a product or a component part is eventually
broken or the end of its life is reached however high the durability of the product
or the component part may be. When a product or a component part is broken or when
the end of its life is reached, the product or the component part undergoes processing
in the "product reuse" mode or the "part reuse" mode. However, there is also a
limit to recycling in this mode because when a new product or component part appears,
the old product or component part becomes obsolescent and its economical value
on the market is lost.
On the other hand, recycling of resources in the "CMR" mode can be repeated for
a substantially long time. That is, if a resource is returned to the part material
level, it can be returned to the above-described basic flow by being taken in a
new product or component part.
An "open-loop material recycling (hereinafter referred to OMR)" mode similar
to
the "CMR" mode exists. In this mode, a regenerated material produced in the material
regeneration facility as illustrated is delivered not to the particular part manufacturer
3 but to an indefinite number of material users including a recycled material
user
15. The "CMR" mode is more advantageous than the "OMR" mode in the
following respect. That is, because a regenerated material flows to the particular
part manufacturer
3 without flowing to an indefinite number of material
users who may not necessarily return the material to the above-described basic
flow, repeated circulatory use of the material can be ensured. The "CMR" mode is
also advantageous in terms of controllability of the physical properties of a regenerated material.
More specifically, in the "CMR" mode", particular companies or manufacturers
can easily exist as a plurality of facilities relating to circulations such that
a "company A" produces a component part, a "company B" produces and recovers a
product and a "company C" disassembles a product and obtains recovered materials.
In such a case, a component part from which a recovered material is derived is
definitely identified, for example, as a "recovered material derived from a component
part a produced by company A". If the original material is identified, the physical
properties of the recovered material can be easily identified. For example, a plastic
material ordinarily contains various additives including a halogen-based or non-halogen
flame retardant other than a plastic resin used as a basic material. Therefore,
even plastic materials of the same kind (e.g., polyethylene) vary in physical properties.
In a case where a plastic material the physical properties of which are unknown
is used as a recovered material, it is difficult to control the physical properties
of a regenerated material obtained by mixing the plastic material with a virgin
material. In the "CMR" mode, however, the physical properties of a recovered material
can be known and, therefore, the physical properties of a regenerated material
can be easily controlled.
For the above-described reason, importance has been attached particularly to
the "CMR" mode in recent years. As a recycling system capable of implementation
of CMR, particularly plastic CMR (PCMR), the recycling system proposed by the applicant
of the present invention and disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-181958
is known.
With the "CMR" mode, however, there is a problem that the instability of the
amount of recovered used parts hinders "CMR" from being smoothly performed, as
mentioned above. More specifically, the time during which a product is used varies
largely from user to user, because there are users each of who positively buys
a new product as a substitute for an old one when the new product is put on the
market, and other users each of who repairs and uses a product until the end of
the life of the product is almost reached. Due to such variation in use time, the
stability of the amount of products or parts from users is inevitably reduced.
In such a situation, the stability of the productivity of a recovered material
and a regenerated material (recovered material+virgin material) and, hence, the
stability of the productivity of a component part manufactured by using the regenerated
material is inevitably reduced.
On the other hand, the product manufacturer
4 makes an elaborate production
plan in order to avoid overstocking of a large amount of products by overproduction,
occurrence of shortage of supply due to failure to flexibly meet ordering demands,
or the like. A need then inevitably arises to adopt specifications such that production
of a component part using a virgin material is allowed by considering the instable
productivity, while it is essentially desirable to exclusively produce the component
part using the regenerated material. It is ideal for the part manufacturer
3
receiving an order according to such specifications to perform part production
in such a manner that the regenerated material is preferentially used and the virgin
material is substituted when the usable amount of the regenerated material becomes
zero. In such part production, however, a need arises for a program change or the
like accompanying change of materials, resulting in a reduction in productivity.
For this reason, the part manufacturer
3 necessarily prefers to use the
virgin material only. The regenerated material and the recovered material are then
left in the material regeneration facility and the pulverization facility without
being used. Then it becomes necessary to dispose of the materials by "OMR", "reduction
to raw material" or "energy recovery" outside the loop. Thus, the system is hindered
from being smoothly operated in the "CMR" mode.
To enable the system to be smoothly operated in the "CMR" mode, a method may
be
used in which the regenerated material is produced by setting the mixing ratio
of the recovered material to the virgin material to a sufficiently low value such
that the recovered material is always stocked at hand in the pulverization facility
even if the amount of products recovered from users varies. This method, however,
allows the amount of the stocked recovered material from increasing gradually under
the pulverization facility to such an extent that a need arises to dispose of,
outside the "CMR" mode loop, an excess amount of the material which cannot be held.
In this case, recycling of a low efficiency results such that the most of the recovered
material is disposed of outside the "CMR" mode loop, while only part of the recovered
material is smoothly disposed of in the "CMR" mode.
The outline of the present invention will now be described.
According to the present invention, the amount of a recovered material
used in a product is definitely determined, in contrast with the conventional art
in which the amount of a recovered material used in a product is not definitely
determined. The amount of a recovered material used in a product can be determined
by determining the mixing ratio of the recovered material and a virgin material
for production of a regenerated material and by determining the breakdown of ordered
component parts into component parts using the virgin material and component parts
using the regenerated material. That is, if the mixing ratio and the breakdown
are determined, the total amount of the recovered material to be used in all products
produced in a certain time period is determined. In determination of the amount
of the recovered material to be used, at least one of the amount of recovered component
parts, the amount of production of the recovered material and the amount of production
of the regenerated material and a plan to produce the product are considered, thereby
avoiding occurrence of shortage of the recovered material necessary for production
of the product or the like.
Discussion will be concretely made, for example, with respect to a plan
to produce a product within a certain time period (hereinafter referred to as "entire
period") and with respect to a partial time period in the entire time period. This
partial time period is equal to or shorter than the time period required for the
flow of a recovered used component part to a product production facility such as
a product manufacturer while being successively changed into a recovered material,
a regenerated material and a component part using the regenerated material, and
is suitable for determining, by considering all factors, the amount of the recovered
material to be used in all products in this time period.
Production of the regenerated-material-using component part necessary
for the number of the products produced in the partial time period (e.g., an outer
cover) is started at a stage is before the beginning of the partial time period
(which stage is hereinafter referred to as a "stage at which production of the
regenerated-material-using component part is started"). Further, production of
the regenerated material (e.g., a generated plastic) used in the regenerated-material-using
component part and production of the recovered material (e.g., a recovered plastic)
used in the regenerated material are respectively started at earlier stages (hereinafter
referred to respectively as a "stage at which production of the regenerated material
is started" and a "stage at which production of the recovered material is started").
If the stock of each of the recovered material and the regenerated material becomes
zero at the stage at which production of the recovered material is started, there
is a need to produce the products in the above-mentioned partial time period by
using only the amount of recovered used parts at the corresponding point in time
(the stock before the corresponding point in time and the recovered amount in a
certain time period before the corresponding point in time). This is because only
the used component parts existing at the "stage at which production of the recovered
material is started" are supplied to the product production facility immediately
before the above-mentioned partial time period by being successively changed into
the recovered material, the regenerated material and the regenerated-material-using
component part.
Nevertheless, failure to supply the planned amount of regenerated-material-using
component parts to the product production facility in the above-mentioned partial
time period occurs if the amount exceeding the recovered amount is required. Conventionally,
in such a case, the product production facility gives an order by ambiguously specifying
component parts, e.g., an order requesting "A number of items consisting of either
of regenerated-material-using component parts and virgin-material component parts".
Shortage of the supply of regenerated-material-using component parts to the product
production facility occurs because, while the amount of used component parts allocable
for production of the product and, hence, the amount of the recovered material
is determined at the "stage at which production of the recovered material is started",
an amount of the recovered material larger than the determined amount is requested.
If the amount of the recovered material used in the products is limited within
the range of the amount corresponding to the amount of recovered used component
parts, shortage of the supply of regenerated-material-using component parts to
the product production facility does not occur. To limit the amount of the recovered
material in the products within this range, an order for component parts may be
given by specifying the component parts according to the amount of recovered used
component parts. More specifically, examination is made as to whether regenerated-material-using
component parts alone suffice for the production according to the plan on the basis
of the amount of recovered used component parts, the number of products to be produced
within the above-mentioned partial time period according to the production plan,
etc. If they do not suffice, an order is given by explicitly describing the breakdown,
e.g., "including B number of virgin-material component parts in A number of component
parts". In this manner, the product production facility can make a part production
facility (e.g., a part manufacturer) produce regenerated-material-using component
parts (e.g., rebuilt outer covers) with reliability while avoiding failure to supply
the necessary amount of regenerated-material-using component parts.
If there is some stock of the recovered material or the regenerated material
at
the "stage at which production of the recovered material is started", the stock
can be used for production of the products in addition to the amount of recovered
used component parts. It is possible to avoid occurrence of "shortage of regenerated-material-using
component parts" by at least referring to the received amount.
In a case where examination is made as to sufficiency/deficiency not at the "stage
at which production of the recovered material is started" but at the "stage at
which production of the regenerated material is started", at least the amount of
production of the recovered material (the stock at this stage and the amount of
production at a stage a predetermined time period before this stage) may be referred to.
In a case where examination is made as to sufficiency/deficiency at the "stage
at which production of the regenerated-material-using component part is started",
at least the amount of production of the regenerated material (the stock at this
stage and the amount of production at a stage a predetermined time period before
this stage) may be referred to.
Also, if the mixing ratio of the recovered material and the virgin material
at the time of production of the regenerated material is allowed to be varied,
it is possible to give an order not by designating only regenerated-material-using
component parts instead of explicitly describing the breakdown of the component
parts. More specifically, operations described below may be performed. That is,
at least one of the amount of recovered used component parts and the amount of
production of the recovered material at the "stage at which production of the recovered
material is started" or at the "stage at which production of the regenerated material
is started" is examined and the amount of the recovered material allocable per
product is also examined on the basis of the production plan. Examination is then
made as to selection of the mixing ratio of the recovered material and the virgin
material in the regenerated-material-using component parts for limitation to the
allocated amount. The material regeneration facility may be notified of the result
of this examination.
Thus, even in a case where the order is given to the part production facility
only for regenerated-material-using component parts, the amount of regenerated
material necessary for the production according to the order can be supplied with
reliability. Moreover, occurrence of a state in which a large amount of the recovered
material or the regenerated material is left in the "CMR" loop without being used
can be avoided by producing the regenerated-material-using component parts with reliability.
Thus, according to the present invention, the amount of a recovered material
used in a product is obtained on the basis of the amount of recovered used component
parts, the amount of production of a recovered material or the amount of production
of a regenerated material, and a production plan, thereby enabling "CMR" to be
smoothly performed while reducing the amount of the recovered material disposed
of outside the "CMR" loop.
A recycling method, a production producing method, a part ordering method, a
mixing
ratio determination method, an information processing apparatus and a program to
which the present invention is applied will be described below in detail.
Description will be first made of a recycling method according to a first
embodiment of the present invention and an information processing apparatus used
for the recycling method. The recycling method is "PCMR" carried out by a product
manufacturer which produces a copying machine, and the information processing apparatus
is used for "PCMR".
FIG. 2 shows flows of "PCMR" performed by the product manufacturer
10.
The product manufacturer
10 is constituted by a part production division
11, a product production division
12, a wholesale division
13,
a visiting service division
14, a recovery division
15, a product
rebuilding division
16, a disassembly and separation division
17,
a part rebuilding division
18, a recovered material production division
19, and a regenerated material production division
20. The part production
division
11 produces an outer cover, a paper feed tray, a fixing unit, a
power supply circuit, an optical unit, a photosensitive member, etc, which are
components for a copying machine. The outer cover and the paper feed tray are produced
from an acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (hereinafter referred to as "ABS") resin
provided as a component part material. This ABS is regenerated ABS which is not
a material formed only of a virgin material but a regenerated material obtained
by mixing a regenerated material and a virgin material. Accordingly, the part production
division
11 performs a part production process for producing component parts
by using regenerated materials.
The product production division
12 produces a copying machine as a product
by assembling the various component parts produced by the part production division
11. The product production division
12 performs a product production
process for producing the product by assembling the component parts. The produced
copying machine is wholesaled to a selling agent
50, etc., through the wholesale
division
13 and is thereafter sold to a user
51. With printing out
under the user
51, a toner in the toner cartridge is consumed. The toner
cartridge from which the toner is emptied is manually replenished with new toner
by the user
51, thus recycling the material of the toner cartridge.
A member in the visiting service division
14 visits the user
51
at
an inspection request or the like and performs maintenance of the copying machine.
If the product process cartridge (PrC) and some of the component parts are replaced,
the visiting member receives the used process cartridge and component parts from
the user
51 and delivers them to the product rebuilding division
16
and the disassembly and separation division
17.
When the copying machine owned by the user
51 becomes unusable, the recovery
division
15 recovers the copying machine from the user
51 by receiving
a request from the user
51 or the selling agent
50 or the like which
has sold a new copying machine, and delivers the recovered copying machine to the
disassembly and separation division
17. The recovery division
15
performs a recovery process for recovering used component parts from consumers,
e.g., the user
51.
The disassembly and separation division
17 disassembles the used copying
machine (including used component parts) received from the recovery division
15.
Of the products obtained by disassembly (e.g., the process cartridges), those rebuildable
are delivered to the product rebuilding division
16. Those not rebuildable
are further disassembled into unit parts. By the above-described disassembly and
receiving from the visiting service division
14, a number of used component
parts, e.g., the fixing unit, the power supply circuit, the optical device (laser
writing unit), the photosensitive member, the outer cover and the paper feed tray
are obtained. Of the obtained used component parts, those rebuildable are delivered
to the part rebuilding division
18. Those not rebuildable are further disassembled
into unit materials such as iron, stainless steel and plastics and are separated
into material groups. Of the separated materials, plastic materials other than
metals and ABS are delivered to a resource recoverer
52. The delivered materials
are recycled by reduction to raw materials or energy recovery. On the other hand,
ABS is delivered to the recovered material production division
19. In the
above-described copying machine, the outer cover and the paper feed tray correspond
to this ABS.
The product rebuilding division
16 overhauls and rebuilds a product, or
the process cartridge, received from the visiting service division
14 or
the disassembly and separation division
17, and delivers the rebuilt process
cartridge to the wholesale division
13. The above-described part rebuilding
division
11 overhauls and rebuilds the used component parts (e.g., the fixing
unit and the power supply circuit) received from the visiting service division
14 or the disassembly and separation division
17, and delivers the
rebuilt component parts to the wholesale division
13.
The recovered material production division
19 produces recovered ABS obtained
as a recovered material in such a manner that the outer cover and the paper feed
tray made of ABS and received from the disassembly and separation division
17
are finely pulverized into 4 to 10 [mm] pieces by a pulverization means. In the
product manufacturer
10, the disassembly and separation division
17
and the recovered material production division
19 operate integrally with
each other to perform a recovered material production process for producing recovered
materials by disassembling used component parts. If the plastic product recycling
apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-263581 is used as the
above-mentioned pulverization means, a recovered material of a high purity can
be manufactured with safety.
The regenerated material production division
20 produces regenerated ABS
as a regenerated material by mixing the recovered ABS produced in the recovered
material production division
19 with virgin ABS containing no recovered
material. The regenerated material production division
20 performs a regenerated
material production process for producing a regenerated material by mixing a recovered
material with a virgin material containing no recovered material. The produced
regenerated ABS is supplied to the part production division
11 to be recycled
as a component part material.
FIG. 3 shows the configuration of an information processing apparatus provided
in the above-described product manufacturer
10. This information processing
apparatus is constituted by three computer systems (each referred to as a personal
computer, hereinafter) respectively provided in the product production division
12, the recovered material production division
19 and the regenerated
material production division
20. Each of the personal computers has a main
unit
30 which is constituted by a central processing unit (CPU) and which
functions as a computation means, a keyboard
31, a mouse
32, a modem
33, a display
34, and a printer
35. In these components, the
keyboard
31 and the mouse
32 function as information input means
for accepting input of information to the main unit
30 or the computation
means. The display
34 and the printer
35 function as information
output means for outputting the results of computation performed by the main unit
30 or the computation means. The modem
33 functions as an information
input means for accepting input of information from an external circuit to the
main unit
30 and also as an information output means for accepting output
of information from the main unit
30 to the external circuit. Further, a
recording medium read/write means such as a flexible disk drive attached to the
main unit
30 also functions as an information input means and as an information
output means.
An operator in the product production division
12 inputs product plan
information
including information on a planned number of products and information on a plurality
of planned production periods (corresponding to the above-described partial time
period) with respect to the copying machine to the main unit
30 of the personal
computer by using the keyboard
31 and the mouse
32 as required. In
the main unit of the personal computer in the product production division
12,
a program for enabling the main unit
30 of the personal computer to perform
computational processing described below is installed. That is, processing is performed
to compute necessary ABS amount information, i.e., information on the total necessary
amount of ABS for production of the planned number of products, on the basis of
one-product necessary amount information on the amount of ABS necessary for production
of one copying machine and the above-mentioned planned product number information.
The one-product necessary amount information is stored in a storage means such
as a hard disk in advance. The planned production period information input to the
main unit
30 is output to the personal computers in the recovered material
production division
19 and the regenerated material production division
20 via the modem
33 and the Internet circuit. The computed necessary
ABS amount information is output to the personal computer in the regenerated material
production division
20 via the modem
33 and the Internet circuit.
The program in accordance with the present invention can be distributed or obtained
in a state of being recorded on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM. The program
can also be distributed or obtained in such a manner that a signal carrying this
program and transmitted by a predetermined transmitter is distributed and received
via a transmission medium such as a public telephone line, a private line or any
of other communication networks. During this distribution, only a portion of the
program may be transmitted via the transmission medium. That is, it is not necessary
that all data constituting the program exist on the transmission medium at a time.
The signal carrying the program is a computer data signal realized on a predetermined
carrier including the program. The method of transmitting the program from the
predetermined transmitter comprises continuously transmitting the data constituting
the program and intermittently transmitting the data.
An operator in the recovered material production division
19 inputs recovered
ABS stock information, recovered ABS production amount information, and recovered
ABS production period information, which is information on the time period required
for production of the recovered ABS, and other information to the main unit
30
of the personal computer by using the keyboard
31 and the mouse
32
as required. The operator also stores in the storage means the above-mentioned
planned production period information sent from the personal computer in the product
production division
12. In this main unit
30, a program for executing
computational processing for computing recovered ABS allocation information is
installed. Recovered ABS allocation information is information indicating what
amount of recovered ABS is allocable in the planned production period in which
production of the copying machine is planned in the amount of recovered ABS produced
in the recovered material production division
19. This information is computed
on the basis of the recovered ABS stock information, recovered ABS production amount
information and recovered ABS production period information stored in advance and
the above-mentioned planned production period information sent from the product
production division
12.
For example, if the above-mentioned planned production period is 10 days, and
if the time period from a time at which recovered ABS is produced to a time at
which the recovered ABS is supplied to the product production division
12
by being successively changed into regenerated ABS and a regenerated-material-using
component part, i.e., a regenerated-ABS-using component part, is 40 days, then
the recovered ABS produced in the time period from the point in time 50 days before
the beginning of the above-mentioned planned production period to the point in
time 40 days before the planned production period can be allocated for production
of the copying machine in the planned production period. In addition to this, the
recovered ABS stock at the point in time 50 days before the beginning of the planned
production period can be allocated for the corresponding production.
For the above-described allocation, the recovered ABS stock information is first
reset to zero at the point in time 50 days before, and the corresponding stock
is formed as stock allocation information. Subsequently, at the point in time 40
days before, all recovered ABS production amount information items corresponding
to the time period from the point in time 50 days before to the point in time 40
days before are searched on the basis of a plurality of combinations of the recovered
ABS production amount information and recovered ABS production period information
stored in the storage means. The value obtained by adding the accumulation of the
search results and the above-mentioned stock allocation is obtained as recovered
ABS allocation information. The obtained recovered ABS allocation information is
output together with the planned production period information to the personal
computer in the regenerated material production division
20 via the modem
33 and the Internet circuit.
On the
