Remanufacturing is the process of restoring old, damaged and failed products to a condition as good as new . Whilst the practice of remanufacture has been conducted for almost a century, the attention it receives within mainstream business is increasing due to potential benefits associated with economic savings and reduced environmental impact. There are several challenges in operating a successful remanufacturing business, one of which is how to assess the feasibility of remanufacturing. Remanufacturing does not lend itself towards every product due to factors related to the product, process, market and business capabilities, therefore careful assessment should be conducted before taking on a remanufacturing endeavour. This thesis reports the research undertaken to aid decision makers assessing the feasibility of a product for remanufacture. The aim has therefore been to determine the requirements of assessing remanufacturing feasibility, then to develop a tool to support this activity. Requirements of the decision making process were established through a detailed review of the literature supplemented with additional interviews from remanufacturing businesses, whilst research gaps for support tools were identified through a systematic review of existing tools presented within academia. Through these reviews it was determined that current methods do not provide enough support in determining the impact of uncertainties found within remanufacturing against key assessment criteria, such as economic cost. Focus upon the tool development was therefore directed at estimating remanufacturing cost of a product under uncertain conditions. The tool was designed, utilising techniques such as Monte Carlo analysis, fuzzy sets and case based reasoning. A prototype of the tool was then implemented within an object oriented structure and deployed as web service. Testing and validation were conducted by demonstrating the functionality of the tool against a set of specification requirements, through two contrasting remanufacturing case studies identified within industry. In summary this research has developed a tool to support the assessment of remanufacturing viability through cost estimation under uncertain conditions, identifying requirements through a detailed literature review and interviews with industry and providing validation through two detailed case studies. The tool is novel in its ability to calculate both cost and the risk associated with the uncertainties present within the remanufacturing domain.

In the field of sustainable manufacturing, a wide range of research has been carried out to attain the more effective use of natural resources and the reduction of environmental impacts during the whole product life cycle. This goal can be best achieved by promoting multiple-reuse of parts, sub-assemblies, or entire products. However, the decision toward reusing an old product depends on a variety of parameters with many uncertainties. Therefore, a comprehensive model to assess the reusability of products prior to the reuse decision is urgently needed. The objective of this research has been to develop a comprehensive assessment model, integrating technical, environmental, social, and economic aspects to evaluate the reusability of industrial products. The assessment model consists of four sub-models, which are a methodology to assess the quality and reliability of products, a model to translate the social responsibility aspect into warranty cost, a methodology to integrate environmental costs, and an economic model to accumulate total life cycle cost as the basis of the evaluation. The model also facilitates trade-offs between the factors to investigate the possibility to improve the reusability of a product. To apply the assessment model in the real business environment, a set of decisionmaking methodologies under different take-back scenarios has been developed as a guideline for manufacturers. Furthermore, as the existence of uncertainty in the reuse strategy is undeniable, a methodology to integrate uncertainties into the assessment model is also developed. The model validation, using three real cases collected from industrial partners on consumer and commercial products, has confirmed the applicability of the model to provide a useful tool to evaluate products at the end of their life cycle. The model also enables decision makers to disclose the risk associated with the decision, thus improving the quality of the decision. The results are in good agreement with the basic theory that the reuse and remanufacturing strategy is highly recommended from both environmental and economic reasons.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Mathematics / Master / Master of Philosophy

No description available.

In the field of sustainable manufacturing, a wide range of research has been carried out to attain the more effective use of natural resources and the reduction of environmental impacts during the whole product life cycle. This goal can be best achieved by promoting multiple-reuse of parts, sub-assemblies, or entire products. However, the decision toward reusing an old product depends on a variety of parameters with many uncertainties. Therefore, a comprehensive model to assess the reusability of products prior to the reuse decision is urgently needed. The objective of this research has been to develop a comprehensive assessment model, integrating technical, environmental, social, and economic aspects to evaluate the reusability of industrial products. The assessment model consists of four sub-models, which are a methodology to assess the quality and reliability of products, a model to translate the social responsibility aspect into warranty cost, a methodology to integrate environmental costs, and an economic model to accumulate total life cycle cost as the basis of the evaluation. The model also facilitates trade-offs between the factors to investigate the possibility to improve the reusability of a product. To apply the assessment model in the real business environment, a set of decisionmaking methodologies under different take-back scenarios has been developed as a guideline for manufacturers. Furthermore, as the existence of uncertainty in the reuse strategy is undeniable, a methodology to integrate uncertainties into the assessment model is also developed. The model validation, using three real cases collected from industrial partners on consumer and commercial products, has confirmed the applicability of the model to provide a useful tool to evaluate products at the end of their life cycle. The model also enables decision makers to disclose the risk associated with the decision, thus improving the quality of the decision. The results are in good agreement with the basic theory that the reuse and remanufacturing strategy is highly recommended from both environmental and economic reasons.

In the field of sustainable manufacturing, a wide range of research has been carried out to attain the more effective use of natural resources and the reduction of environmental impacts during the whole product life cycle. This goal can be best achieved by promoting multiple-reuse of parts, sub-assemblies, or entire products. However, the decision toward reusing an old product depends on a variety of parameters with many uncertainties. Therefore, a comprehensive model to assess the reusability of products prior to the reuse decision is urgently needed. The objective of this research has been to develop a comprehensive assessment model, integrating technical, environmental, social, and economic aspects to evaluate the reusability of industrial products. The assessment model consists of four sub-models, which are a methodology to assess the quality and reliability of products, a model to translate the social responsibility aspect into warranty cost, a methodology to integrate environmental costs, and an economic model to accumulate total life cycle cost as the basis of the evaluation. The model also facilitates trade-offs between the factors to investigate the possibility to improve the reusability of a product. To apply the assessment model in the real business environment, a set of decisionmaking methodologies under different take-back scenarios has been developed as a guideline for manufacturers. Furthermore, as the existence of uncertainty in the reuse strategy is undeniable, a methodology to integrate uncertainties into the assessment model is also developed. The model validation, using three real cases collected from industrial partners on consumer and commercial products, has confirmed the applicability of the model to provide a useful tool to evaluate products at the end of their life cycle. The model also enables decision makers to disclose the risk associated with the decision, thus improving the quality of the decision. The results are in good agreement with the basic theory that the reuse and remanufacturing strategy is highly recommended from both environmental and economic reasons.

In the field of sustainable manufacturing, a wide range of research has been carried out to attain the more effective use of natural resources and the reduction of environmental impacts during the whole product life cycle. This goal can be best achieved by promoting multiple-reuse of parts, sub-assemblies, or entire products. However, the decision toward reusing an old product depends on a variety of parameters with many uncertainties. Therefore, a comprehensive model to assess the reusability of products prior to the reuse decision is urgently needed. The objective of this research has been to develop a comprehensive assessment model, integrating technical, environmental, social, and economic aspects to evaluate the reusability of industrial products. The assessment model consists of four sub-models, which are a methodology to assess the quality and reliability of products, a model to translate the social responsibility aspect into warranty cost, a methodology to integrate environmental costs, and an economic model to accumulate total life cycle cost as the basis of the evaluation. The model also facilitates trade-offs between the factors to investigate the possibility to improve the reusability of a product. To apply the assessment model in the real business environment, a set of decisionmaking methodologies under different take-back scenarios has been developed as a guideline for manufacturers. Furthermore, as the existence of uncertainty in the reuse strategy is undeniable, a methodology to integrate uncertainties into the assessment model is also developed. The model validation, using three real cases collected from industrial partners on consumer and commercial products, has confirmed the applicability of the model to provide a useful tool to evaluate products at the end of their life cycle. The model also enables decision makers to disclose the risk associated with the decision, thus improving the quality of the decision. The results are in good agreement with the basic theory that the reuse and remanufacturing strategy is highly recommended from both environmental and economic reasons.

Univ., Fak. für Wirtschaftswiss., Diss.--Magdeburg, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Remanufacturing is an industrial process where used products are restored to useful life. This dissertation describes how products can be designed to facilitate the remanufacturing process. It also describes how the remanufacturing processes can be improved to be more efficient. When comparing remanufacturing with other end-of-life scenarios, it is hard from an environmental perspective to determine which scenario is preferable. This research has shown that remanufacturing is preferable to new manufacturing from a natural resource perspective. With remanufacturing the efforts that initially was used to shape the product part is salvaged. Furthermore, it has been found that it is environmentally and economically beneficial to have products designed for remanufacturing. To avoid obsolescence, the products must be easy to upgrade with new technology in the remanufacturing process. In this dissertation, a generic remanufacturing process is described with all included steps that are needed to restore the products to useful life. In order to make the remanufacturing process more efficient, the products need to be adapted for the process. Therefore, the preferable products properties facilitating each step in the generic remanufacturing process have been identified. A matrix (RemPro) was created to illustrate the relation between each and every generic remanufacturing step and the preferable product properties. Remanufacturing case studies have shown that the companies performing remanufacturing often have problems with material flows, use of space and high inventory levels. This is often due to the uncertainties in the quality and the number of cores (used products) that will arrive at the remanufacturing plants. To overcome these problems, the remanufacturers need to achieve a better control over the product’s design and use phase, i.e. the life cycle phases that precede the remanufacturing process. This control is best performed by the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Furthermore, it has been found that Swedish manufacturers often have a weak relation between its environmental management systems and product issues, such as design for environment/remanufacturing. Design for environmental/remanufacturing aspects should be a crucial part of the manufacturers environmental management systems (EMSs) as the products stand for much of the material flows at the manufacturing companies. If the external auditors address the manufacturers to have a life cycle perspective on their business the manufacturer would be more likely to adapt the remanufacturing aspects in their environmental management systems.

The EU strives for improving the use of resources in industry and society, a part of this is to turn the economy from a liner, consumption economy, to a circular, reusable economy. In order for this to be achieved industry needs adjust their production to facilitate remanufacturing of used products as well as producing new products. A part of the challenge industry is facing is the increase in complexity and volume in regard for information and material flows, one way of handling this in manufacturing companies is to use ERP- systems to keep track of information and material flows. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the possibility to implement ERP- systems in remanufacturing industries since the amount of uncertainties and sources of variations shadows those in new product manufacturing. In order to reach a conclusion in regards to the purpose of this thesis three research questions where formed: What production steps are need to complete the remanufacturing process? What are the pros and cons of using ERP- systems within remanufacturing? What are the critical implementation factors that remanufacturing industries need to consider when implementing ERP- systems? In order to answer the research questions a literature study was performed to gain insight in the academic knowledge on the subject. In addition to the literature study a case study was conducted as well at a refurbishing company within the train industry. From the literature and case study it was concluded that the remanufacturing process consist of five phases, receiving the product from the market, dismantling it, repair and restore the components, reassemble the product, return the product to the customer/market. Since ERP- systems are continually being developed and their ability to handle uncertainties and variations improve, they could be used at companies facing increased variations and uncertainties than those found in companies only conducting new product production. The pros of utilizing ERP- systems are: financial gains through reduction of administrative, production and inventory costs, the customer related gains come from improved communication, the positive effects on the internal processes are achieved from increased productivity and efficiency. The final area where positive effects can be found is the knowledge and growth are, where ERP- systems follow up on best practises and makes the information easier to access. The drawbacks of using ERP- systems are that it is costly to purchase and implement them, and the company might need to adjust its methods and processes in order to fit the functions included in the ERP- system. As well as there is a need to educate and train the staff to handle the system in a correct fashion.  In order to succeed in implementing a ERP- system, there is a great need for a vision of what the system is supposed to achieve as well as a clear support from the leadership. The implementation needs an assign leader that makes sure that the right functions and systems are being introduced and the amount of special adjustments are kept to a minimum to reduce the risk of making the implementation slower and costlier. In conclusion, remanufacturing companies could draw great advantage from implementing a ERP- system, if not only for the standardisation of methods and tasks, but also from the more user friendly information system. / Ibland annat EU driver man ett arbete med att bli bättre på att ta tillvara på de resurser och tillgångar som vi har, en del av detta arbete är att företag ska kunna ta emot använda produkter och återvinna materialen och komponenterna för att producera nya produkter, man vill ställa om från en linjär till en cirkulär ekonomi. Denna omställning är en utmaning för nytillverkande företag då dessa har optimerat sin verksamhet för att producera produkter och saknar därför system för att ta emot använda produkter och demonteras dessa. En del i utmaningen är den ökade komplexitet som uppstår vid introduktionen av fler flöden och behovet av ytterligare processer. För att hantera information och materialflöden använder sig företag av integrerade affärssystem, ERP-system, där information centraliseras i företaget och görs tillgängligt för alla funktioner. Följande arbete har fokuserat på att utröna huruvida företag som är aktiva inom reparations- och livstidsförlängande verksamhet kan dra nyttan av att använda ERP-system då dessa typer av verksamheter har stora variationer i processtid, tillgång och kvalitet på returnerade produkter samt att efterfrågan varierar kraftigt. För att uppfylla syftet med arbetet har tre forskningsfrågor upprättats: Hur ser tillverkningsprocesser ut inom reparations- och livstidsförlängande verksamheter? Vilka är fördelar och nackdelar med användning av integrerade affärssystem till reparations- och livstidförlängande verksamheter? Vilka faktorer är viktigt att tänka vid implementeringen och användandet av integrerade affärssystem till reparations- och livstidförlängande verksamheter? För att besvara forskningsfrågorna har en litteraturstudie genomförts för att bestämma den akademiska kunskapen inom området, samt en fallstudie hos ett företag verksamt inom reparation och livstidsförlängande av tåg i syfte att samla in empirisk data. Från litteraturstudien och fallstudien har det konstaterats att tillverkningsprocessen hos reparations- och livstidsförlängande verksamheter består av fem moment; mottagande, demontering, upparbetning, återmontering och återlämning/försäljning. Då ERP-system blir allt mer avancerade har deras förmåga att hantera osäkerheter och förändringar ökat, detta har gjort att verksamheter med korta planeringshorisonter samt många osäkerhetskällor kan tillämpa ERP-system till sin verksamhet. Fördelar med att göra detta återfinns inom fyra kategorier: finansiella (så som reducerade kostnader för administration), produktion och lager, kundrelaterade fördelar (som förbättrad kommunikation och tidshållning), intern verksamhetsfördelar genom ökad produktivitet och effektivitet, kunskap och tillväxtfördelar så som användarvänligare system och ökad effektivitet samt att ERP- system följer upp ”best practis” mönster. Nackdelar med ERP-system är att dessa är kostsamma att införskaffa och implementera, samt att verksamheten kan behöva standardisera sina metoder för att vara kompatibla med systemets funktioner. Även kunskapen inom företaget behöver öka för att hantera systemen. För att lyckas med implementeringen av ERP-system krävs en tydlig vision om vad systemet ska uppnå och stötting i form av ledarskapsfördelning och implementeringsteam som driver på arbetet, samt att mängden specialanpassning hålls till ett minimum då detta riskerar att dra ut på processen vilket driver upp kostnaderna. Slutsatsen är att reparations- och livstidsförlängande verksamheter kan dra stora fördelar av att implementera ERP-system, bland annat genom standardisering av arbetssätt men också tack vare användarvänligare informationssystem. Dock behövs en tydlig vision för att användandet ska lyckas.