Design of Defect-based Value Retention Strategies in Optoelectronic Products – Industrial Case Study on Multi-Emitter Laser Diodes

As applications for optoelectronic products expand, the producers of laser modules face a challenge to reduce in-line waste as an attempt to improve their economic and sustainability performance. To achieve this goal, a feasible strategy is the recovery of value through the re-use of components and materials from non-conforming parts. This value retention strategy relies on efficient disassembly and re-manufacturing operations. As a matter of fact, the disassembly of optoelectronic products remains to be investigated. Typically, the properties of optical components irreversibly change during the assembly stage, particularly during bonding and fixation stages, hence the complexity of de- and re-manufacturing processes emerges. In this paper, the disassembly and requalification of laser modules are studied, and techniques to unlock defect-reuse potential are explored. The focus of this paper is to explore industry-ready techniques and apply them within the context of value retention practices to in-line defective products. The industrial case addresses two product families with increasing complexity in component functional inter-dependencies. The paper presents a method for assigning quality classes to failed products by analyzing the product structure and historical failure data, which in turn triggers the defect management strategies for product requalification and components reuse. The paper contributes to the formalization of cost analysis in pursuing the value retention strategies for different classes, while taking into consideration the costs of disassembly, rework, and disposal.