KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Keynote Title: Accelerating the Transition to a Functional and Strong Circular Economy through Remanufacturing

Biography: John Chalifoux is the chief sustainability officer for MEMA and the chief operating officer of MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers. He is responsible for launching and leading the MEMA Center for Sustainability – dedicated to building a collaborative community and helping MEMA members comply and build advantage wherever they are in their sustainability journey. Chalifoux also oversees the operations of MEMA’s automotive and commercial vehicle aftermarket group. He was most recently president and chief operating officer of MERA – The Association for Sustainable Manufacturing, a former MEMA division.

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Keynote Title: Updating Design Tools for the Digital Circular Economy

Abstract: The circular economy (CE) concept has gained significant traction in both academia and industry, with policymakers proposing new regulations for product tracing and life cycle information sharing.  These “digital” components are essential levers for managing material recovery from products placed on the market. However, to enable proactive changes to products and their lifecycles, the product development process itself must undergo a fundamental transformation. This requires a new class of design tools that can leverage the vast amounts of data generated from product lifecycles to provide more holistic and accurate assessments of a product’s sustainability and CE performance in the real-world. This talk explores current research and knowledge gaps in engineering products for a sustainable CE and advocates for new research on design tools within the context of a digital CE. Opportunities and challenges in implementing information-driven design for CE tools are highlighted through results from recent collaborations with European original equipment manufacturers.

Biography: Devarajan (Dev) Ramanujan is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Aarhus University, Denmark. He also leads the Design and Manufacturing Section.  He joined Aarhus University in 2017. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA from 2016-2017 and earned his Ph.D. in 2015 from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, USA. He directs the Life Cycle Design and Manufacturing Research Group, which focuses on creating computer-aided methods and tools for integrating sustainability and circularity assessments into design and manufacturing. The group’s research is grounded in real-world practice and is conducted in close collaboration with manufacturing industries, standards agencies, and industrial innovation clusters. His research and teaching have been recognized through awards from the American Society of Mechanical Engineering, Association of EcoDesign Societies in Japan, Aarhus University, and Purdue University.

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Keynote Title: Human-Robot Collaboration for Electronics Disassembly

Abstract: Remanufacturing end-of-use consumer electronics provides a
significant opportunity for the recovery of valuable rare earth elements and
other critical materials. However, the labor-intensive nature of the process,
combined with the variability in the quality and condition of incoming
products, makes recovery operations challenging. This talk discusses the
application of AI tools as digital assistants in product assessment, helping to
determine whether products are repairable or need to be disassembled for
recycling. It also describes the role of robotic remanufacturing and
human-robot collaboration in the disassembly process, with a special focus on
improving operator safety and utilizing advanced robotic vision technologies.

Biography: Sara Behdad is an Associate Professor at the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment at the University of Florida. Before joining UF, she was an Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University at Buffalo. Dr. Behdad leads the Green Engineering Technology for the Community of Tomorrow (GETCOT) Research Laboratory at UF. She is an active member of the ASME Design Engineering Division. Currently, she serves as the associate editor
of the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design and the ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering. Her expertise lies in product lifecycle engineering, data-driven remanufacturing, and sustainable design.

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