Remanufacturing is the industrial process of refurbishing old parts. Compared to a repair, the old parts are completely disassembled and each component is checked for reusability and reprocessed (cleaning, reworking of functional surfaces if necessary, etc.), followed by assembly and testing of the entire component analogous to new part production. End-of-life parts are obtained by not disposing of or recycling products at the end of their useful life, but by feeding them into the remanufacturing process. Remanufacturing not only pursues ecological goals, such as saving resources, energy and CO2–savings, but also the focus is also on economic efficiency and customer benefits. Remanufacturing saves manufacturing costs and sales can be increased by providing customers with an offer that is in line with their current value. In addition, the obligation to supply spare parts is supported in the long term.
Remanufacturing is practiced by well-known OEMs as part of their aftersales strategy. The projects range from the definition of requirements to the industrialization and empowerment of a supplier to the serial implementation of remanufacturing. The aim is not only to support the client in the preparation of a business case, but the areas of activity are diverse and also include sustainability considerations.
Remanufacturing eliminates key process steps in the production of spare parts, such as the extraction of raw materials and the primary molding of components. Consequently, a significant proportion of energy and greenhouse gas emissions are saved compared with new production. Using the example of a 4-cylinder replacement engine, this article explains step by step how the emission and energy balances for new production and remanufacturing can be created and compared. In this way, it can be shown that in the present reference scenario, 62% in emissions and 63% in energy can be saved through remanufacturing. In addition, fewer resources in the form of (metal) raw materials are required, since hardly any primary materials are needed to build remanufacturing components. Remanufacturing is therefore a resource-, energy- and emission-saving procedure for offering sustainable spare parts in the automotive sector.
