New software developed at RIT helps engineers design products that are easier to remanufacture and more sustainable

Rochester, New York – In a world where tossing out broken gadgets often seems cheaper and easier than fixing them, researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology are working to flip the script. A new software tool, developed at RIT’s Golisano Institute for Sustainability (GIS), could change the way engineers approach product design — by making sustainability part of the process from the very beginning.

The platform, called PhoenixDFR, helps engineers design products with remanufacturing in mind. Still in beta testing but already generating buzz across multiple industries, the tool guides users to avoid common design flaws that make products difficult — or impossible — to repair and reuse.

“Any time you can extend the life of a product, you’re getting more value out of the materials, energy, and labor that went into it,” said Brian Hilton, principal investigator on the project and engineering manager at GIS. “There’s no reason why the principles behind this tool can’t apply to everything from kitchen equipment to laptops.”

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Hilton was first inspired to explore solutions to wasteful design after a frustrating personal experience. When his refrigerator — only nine years old — began to fail, he discovered that fixing it would cost more than buying a new one.

“There was a leak in the line somewhere,” Hilton recalled. “From an engineering standpoint, that should have been an easy fix. But the repair technician told me that given the difficult access to the lines and the lack of system modularity, I’d be better off buying a new one.”

This small but telling episode reflects a bigger problem, Hilton said: most products on the market today are simply not built with longevity in mind. And when replacement is easier than repair, materials, energy, and dollars all go to waste.

A Tool Designed to Guide, Not Dictate

That’s where PhoenixDFR comes in. The software, which functions as both a web-based app and a plug-in for popular CAD (computer-aided design) platforms, uses real-world manufacturing data to help engineers identify potential design flaws early in the process.

PhoenixDFR doesn’t redesign the product for the user, but it flags risks — like corrosion-prone materials, excessive wear, or poor accessibility — and offers guidance based on a library of real remanufacturing failures and solutions. The system then generates a report with screenshots, design tips, and a score based on a custom-built rating system.

“We’re not trying to tell the design engineer what to do,” said Frank Zelinger, a senior engineer at GIS. “A design engineer and a product manager will still weigh things like cost into the equation, but now you’ve given them another piece of information to think about.”

That added layer of awareness, Hilton said, could be a game-changer — especially as companies face rising pressure to make their operations more environmentally responsible.

A Deep Dive Into Industry Realities

What makes PhoenixDFR so unique is the level of collaboration behind it. The RIT team didn’t just work from textbooks or theory. Instead, they visited five manufacturing sites across the United States, collecting detailed insights from the ground up. They studied what actually happens when products are disassembled for remanufacturing — and where things go wrong.

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“They opened their doors and let us basically go dumpster diving at the end of a remanufacturing line,” Hilton said. “We asked a ton of questions and got insights that go beyond what you’d typically find in a concise journal article.”

Their research spanned several sectors, including heavy equipment, HVAC systems, and automotive. The result is a tool backed by data from 25 common remanufacturing failure modes and hundreds of design rules, making it robust enough to address a wide variety of challenges in industrial design.

“Having them be open to sharing pre-competitive information was a very important part of this,” Hilton added. “It’s been a strong collaboration, and we couldn’t have done this without industry in the room.”

A Team Effort That Goes Beyond the Lab

The project isn’t just the product of a few senior engineers. A team of RIT co-op students played a vital role in shaping PhoenixDFR. Miko Buenk, a 2023 graduate and former co-op, helped quantify the environmental impact of remanufacturing. Jared Randall, a third-year computer science student, tackled cybersecurity concerns, ensuring the tool can be safely used in sensitive industrial environments.

Scott Nichols, a senior engineer and co-principal investigator, led the software development side of the project, ensuring PhoenixDFR would be functional, user-friendly, and ready for real-world deployment.

From Heavy Equipment to Household Appliances

Although PhoenixDFR was originally developed with large industrial components in mind, its creators see a much wider application for the tool in the near future. The same design principles can be adapted to consumer electronics, transportation systems, and — yes — even appliances like the refrigerator that first sparked Hilton’s concern.

With rising consumer interest in sustainability and growing pressure on companies to reduce waste and carbon emissions, the timing couldn’t be better.

“We want to push the envelope,” Hilton said. “We want people to think more about circularity and think more about sustainability and how to integrate that into product development. But today, let’s work on remanufacturing.”

From Research to Real-World Impact

The project was made possible with $1.96 million in funding from the REMADE Institute, a public-private partnership under the Manufacturing USA network, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and Empire State Development.

Though the software is still in its beta phase, the GIS team is already exploring commercialization strategies. Hilton and his colleagues hope that in the near future, PhoenixDFR can be adopted by a wide range of companies — from major manufacturers to small startups — who want to create products that last longer, break less often, and can be reused instead of thrown away.

In an era where sustainability is no longer a buzzword but a necessity, tools like PhoenixDFR could pave the way for a new standard in engineering — one where smart design means sustainable design.

And in Hilton’s ideal future, maybe even a refrigerator will get to live a little longer.