Design for repair: Insights to develop functional modules in household appliances

Repairability plays a key role in promoting a circular economy and extending the lifespan of products. Therefore, the European Commission has adopted various related regulations to promote sustainability and achieve the goals set in the European Green Deal. As part of these efforts, initiatives have been placed to encourage manufacturers in developing reparable products by the development of new standards, such as EN4555x series, as well as new energy labels, e.g., for smartphones and tablets, which will come into effect in June 2025. To better align with these recent legislative developments, designers need engineering guidelines to create easily repairable products from the outset of the design process. Therefore, the objective of this article is to provide technical solutions to increase repairability of functional modules, based on analyses conducted on various household appliances. For this research, five different categories of appliances are analyzed from a repairability perspective: cooker hoods, hobs, combo-hobs, ovens, and freestanding kitchens. Common functional modules across all the analyzed appliances are identified. By applying the EN45554 standard and conducting manual disassembly tests on physical products, critical issues in these modules are identified, as well as smart design solutions. Based hereon, design solutions are proposed for each functional module commonly employed in household appliances. This comprehensive study aims to offer practical insights for designers, helping them to incorporate repairability into their design processes and ultimately contribute to a more sustainable and circular economy.