Rajesh Krishnan. Credit: Manufacturing.net
Article highlights increasing need and popularity of the remanufacturing industry as an emerging manufacturing technology.
An article written by Rajesh Krishnan, a Director at Wipro Technologies, on Manufacturing.net discusses the way in which remanufacturing is becoming increasingly important as “non-circular processes” that lead products straight to landfill “are no longer sustainable” and are leading to “environmental and economic impacts” that “have become too great to ignore”.
Noting that cyclical processes are beginning to be used by manufacturers, Krishnan notes that remanufacturing technology has advanced so that old parts can be salvaged “without compromising on the quality if the remanufactured product”; adding that “new processes, stringent quality checks and re-engineered supply chains” can return end-of-life products “to a ‘like new’ state”.
While Krishnan states that 50 percent of remanufacturing consists of the automotive, mining and aerospace industries; he asserts that “companies in almost every major business sector are implementing the process. And the remanufacturing industry is only expected to grow”; with Nabil Nasr, Director of the Golisano Institute for Sustainability and Founder of the Center for Remanufacturing and Resource Recovery at the Rochester Institute of Technology, the remanufacturing industry in the US employs over half a million people, generating over $100 billion (€75 billion) of sales annually.
Further benefits of remanufacturing listed by Krishnan include the allowance for a greater range of selling options, for example “leasing, renting, exchange of core deposit, part or system remanufacturing and direct sales”; “better control of the installed base and improved service revenue” for closed loop remanufacturing models; the production of cheaper products with a “comparable warranty”; a reduction in demand for raw materials and minimising damage to the environment; and the allowance of a “variable cost structure as the burden of extending the product life rests with the supplier as the product is not always owned by the end user”.
In addition, Krishnan points out that remanufacturing offers a solution to address the “extended producer responsibility” and other regulations coming into force worldwide to increase sustainability.