Virtual engineering in the support of sustainable assembly systems

Virtual Engineering (VE) has always been a great aid in the design phase of manufacturing systems terms structural system description, behaviour simulation and interfacing between different subsystems. To this end, virtual engineering capabilities have strong potential to be employed sustainability at phases life cycle beyond phase. In response sustainable requirements (namely 6R), paper discusses opportunities VE provides support over considering latest industrial developments i.e. Industry 4.0 smart manufacturing. A framework tools integration with 6R is introduced, then discussion expected contributions follows. demonstrate applicability previously mentioned concepts, case study an on-going project exemplified its results discussion.