Abstract
This paper presents a systematic approach to the disassembly line (DL) design in meeting the requirement of variant orders for multiple used parts with different due dates. An extended disassembly Petri net model is proposed for the hierarchical modeling in order to derive the disassembly path with the maximal benefit in the presence of some defective components. An algorithm for balancing DLs to maximize the productivity of a disassembly system is presented. The results of simulation runs of the proposed methodology and algorithms applied to a simplified personal computer disassembly are provided. This work lays a foundation for designing efficient industrial automatic and semiautomatic disassembly systems.