Product life extension

The expression plastic age which is frequently used to describe the present era, has a connotation of continuous and wasteful acquisition of new objects. There is a popular belief that manufacturers are consciously building obsolescence into their products, and deliberately promoting customer dissatisfaction with existing products by introducing needless innovations [27, 30]. The issue of life extension is receiving increased attention. But can the demand for new products and the quantity of discarded products be decreased by extending the lifespan of a product ITKe built-in durability provided by the manufacturer is not a guarantee for a certain calculated life products can be retired from service for several other reasons than normal wear and tear, such as [31, 32]  

In products undergoing rapid technological development, such as communication equipment and computers, it makes little sense to extend the service life beyond the period of technology renewal, and the producers may have little influence over the obsolescence of the product. The automotive industry is reluctant to extend vehicle life to more than 15-20 years, due to fashion as well as technological obsolescence. 

Despite the fact that consumers are calling for more durable products, there are several cases where the increased purchase price of more durable goods deter the consumer, even though the total cost during the useful life of the product may be lower. Before embarking upon product life extension it is therefore important to be aware of and understand the consumer patterns for the product. 

---

J. Butlin, Product Durability and Product Life Extension The Contribution to Solid Waste Management, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), OECD Publication Office, Paris, France (1982). 

Material reduction, product life extension, material life extension, process improvements and product management are cill best achieved by consulting all relevant parties before the final architecture of a product has been settled. 

From the environmental impact point of view service extension gives the supplier a greater involvement in the product life-cycle, with the potential to help manage the product through the life-cycle. 

It seems increasingly clear that the operating cost (operation and maintenance plus fuel costs) is very competitive with the same cost of its main competitors, coal-and gas fired plants. Therefore, the economic advantage of life extension is obvious, and also the clear trend to operate existing nuclear power plants on base load only. Even in France where there are too many nuclear plants to operate them all on base load, there is a trend to decrease the share of nuclear power in total production in view to operate eventually all... 

More reliable and durable instrumentation. Temperature monitoring instrumentation needs to have life extensions beyond current 30 to 45 days. Furthermore, automated on-line feed (for fuel switching purposes) and on-line product analysis instrumentation are needed. 

Patents which are related to pharmaceuticals can provide a significantly shorter effective protection for the resulting products, since a considerable time of the patent life may pass before all conditions for the market approval of pharmaceutical products are fulfilled. For such cases, some countries extend the patent duration of pharmaceutical patents to cover or offset the time which is lost during the registration of the related product. Possible extensions are equivalent to the time required to get market approval but are not meant to compensate for time losses associated with the technical hurdles of product development. 

Goods should be assigned an accurate status that indicates their position within the supply chain at any particular point in time. Examples could include Received, On Hold, Quarantined, Available, Planned, Picked, Dispatched, In Transit, Delivered, Rejected, Referred, and Awaiting Life Extension. Quarantined Status may apply to goods shipped without Certificate of Analysis, returned products, damaged products, incomplete products, counterfeit products, expired products, misbranded and adulterated products, or goods from an unauthorized Suppher. 

The confectionery industry utilizes the emulsification, antistick, and viscosity properties of lecithin and benefits from the concurrent effects of shelf-life extension, texture improvement, and decreased production costs (83). A product such as caramel will not blend correctly in the absence of lecithin. Uniform dispersion of fat, aided by lecithin, will decrease stickiness and provide tenderness for ease of cutting. The natural antioxidant properties of lecithin slow the decay of any product in which it is incorporated. Viscosity is very important in the chocolate industry where shape is often a requirement for consumer acceptability. High concentrations of butter, such as cocoa butter, impart high viscosity, which in turn makes... 

Thirty years on from the explosion of commercially successful applications of targeted and controlled release pharmaceutical formulations, it is evident that there remains a need for further refinements and innovations in the field of drug delivery. Many of the larger corporations focus on the use of novel technology for extension of a product life cycle however, in many cases solubility and permeability issues limit the application of such technologies. Additional complications arise due to inter- and intrasubject variability, compliance, and chronobiological variation in disease incidence. 

Various strategies are pursued by pharmaceutical companies to extend the product life cycle. Under the Hatch-Waxman Act, patent term extensions are available for patented drug substances, drug products, method of use, and method of manufacturing to compensate for the time lost in the FDA s regulatory approval process. However, the limitations of the statute of the following aspects have to be considered ... 

Process design a yes score has been awarded since product life-cycle analyses are discussed extensively. Examples are given of ... 

---