The impact of products design on manufacturing cost is significant. A product that is difficult to assemble will increase its production cost while one that is difficult to disassemble will increase its recycling cost. In order to develop highly manufacturable and recyclable products, an accurate process for identifying problematic parts, before they are released for manufacturing, must be used. In recognizing the importance of this capability, a CAD/CAM/CAE product data management tool based on a structured product coding system is developed. It is an integrated design-to-manufacturing...