Over the past thirty years or so, I’ve discovered firsthand that it can be difficult to explain the fundamentals of remanufacturing in simple, succinct ways. Remanufacturing is a unique field because it draws upon a broad array of skillsets, technologies, processes, and business models. It is highly technical as an industrial system while also deeply conceptual when approached through a sustainability lens. All this makes describing it to the many business leaders, engineers, and policymakers that I have worked with across the globe no easy task, as they all have different perspectives and levels of expertise across varied disciplines.

As an engineer, I am drawn to a problem in need of a solution. This is why I am so pleased to introduce a book that will present remanufacturing fundamentals to a wide audience in an accessible, useful way. The contributors to this book present a diverse set of expertise, bringing significant knowledge to the topic areas they cover. Of course, any project that attempts to capture the whole of a complex, fast-changing area is going to run into barriers and this book is no exception.

Introduction to Remanufacturing

Remanufacturing is an industrial process that restores used, worn and retired products or modules to a like-new condition. The restoration is typically a highly engineered process done in an industrial setting through which products are systematically disassembled, cleaned, and inspected for wear and degradation. Damaged or degraded components are either restored to their original specifications or replaced, feature upgrades can be incorporated, and the product is reassembled. Finally, reliability and quality testing are performed to ensure that performance meets original product specifications.

Remanufacturing has inherent benefits over recycling. Recycling reduces products into raw material which can then be used again. This in fact brings significant environmental and possibly economical value. However, in contrast, remanufacturing retains the geometrical shape and function of the products and components, and is therefore able to capture both the materials and the value added (the labor, energy, and manufacturing processes) which had become embodied in the original product.

Recapturing the value-added component of a product is often both environmentally and economically beneficial. In fact, remanufacturing, while very different than recycling, is oftentimes referred to as the “ultimate form of recycling” because it is able to preserve the embodied energy and value add contained in a product. Typically, at the end of its service life, a product would be destined for landfill, incineration or recycling. But by implementing a remanufacturing strategy, disposal costs can be avoided, the value still embodied in a product can be recouped, and resources can be used more efficiently. In addition, a fact that is often not mentioned, remanufacturing is a gateway for recycling, as when end of service products, called cores, are returned to a remanufacturing facility, products are disassembled and components often properly separated and identified. The components that are not suitable for reuse in the remanufacturing process are then properly sent for recycling with significantly better separation of like materials, thus significantly improving the recycling recovery and output.

Growth of an Industry

It is widely accepted that the United States has the most diverse and developed remanufacturing industry sectors in the world. Much of this development stems from the industrial revolution and the subsequent invention of mass production. A good example can be seen by looking at the history of Ford Motor Company. World War II brought significant material availability challenges which resulted in significant growth for the remanufacturing industry due to the significantly lower virgin material needed and high reuse rate of used materials. Once Ford had produced and sold millions of Model T cars in the early 1900s, it made practical business sense to create separate facilities to remanufacture old motors and a distribution system to support their customers with economical like-new engines and service parts.

This pragmatic approach to integrating remanufacturing into global product support strategies continues to this day. Thousands of product categories including aerospace, automotive, military systems, office furniture and equipment, transportation, construction and electrical equipment; medical devices; machine tools, compressors, other heavy machinery and others account for the global remanufacturing business activity. Major corporations such as Caterpillar, John Deere, Xerox and General Electric all generate significant business through remanufacturing programs related to their products. Conservative estimates show more than $60 billion of remanufactured goods are sold each year in the United States alone and more than 500,000 people are employed by the remanufacturing industry.

Remanufacturing’s Environmental Benefits

Many manufacturers have begun looking for new ways to increase efficiency and reduce costs while developing manufacturing processes that reduce or eliminate negative environmental impacts. This interest in sustainable production inevitably leads these organizations to explore the opportunities and benefits of reuse, remanufacture, and recycling of manufactured goods and products.

Remanufacturing is an important factor in sustainable production because it recovers and preserves much of the expensive value-added component of a manufactured product. Through remanufacturing, nonrenewable resources are kept in circulation for multiple product lifecycles, thus conserving up to 80% or more of the original raw materials, labor and energy embedded in the product. According to an Argonne National Laboratory study, remanufactured products conserve the equivalent of 400 trillion BTUs of energy annually, enough to power 6 million passenger cars each year. This also avoids the generation of 28 million tons per year of the greenhouse gas CO2. These key environmental benefits are readily seen in data from remanufacturing market leaders such as Caterpillar.

Caterpillar is one of the world’s largest remanufacturers, processing more than two million units annually and recycling more than 100 million pounds of remanufactured products each year. The company offers remanufacturing services for a variety of products and components to serve Caterpillar and external clients. Their Components business includes undercarriage, ground engaging tools, hose and connectors, hardened bar stock, tubes, specialized products, common components, fluids and filters. Caterpillar points to an engine cylinder head to illustrate the sustainability of remanufacturing. Compared with manufacturing a new cylinder head, a remanufactured head requires 61% less greenhouse gas, 93% less water, 86% less energy, up to 99% less material use, and it contributes up to 99% less space in a landfill.

Remanufacturing Industry Sectors

Remanufacturing activity encompasses thousands of product categories, from cell phones and laptops to jetliner engine parts to armored ground combat vehicles. However, the majority of remanufacturing industry activity is concentrated in 13 large U.S. sectors, which are described in detail in this book.

After decades of relative obscurity, the remanufacturing industry has emerged larger, more diverse, and a bigger contributor to national and global economies than most of us realize or appreciate. And as all industries transition to greater sustainability in the decades ahead, remanufacturing will be an increasingly more powerful driver for change. So, I invite you to become better acquainted with the scope of remanufacturing in America and around the globe.

Acknowledgments

Nothing convinces people so much as living proof. Caterpillar, Inc., is among the foremost remanufacturers in the world. They are committed to building a global remanufacturing infrastructure to enable progress across industries. This book would not have been possible without the support they made possible through the Caterpillar Professorship and the Caterpillar Fund at the Golisano Institute for Sustainability at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where I serve as associate provost and director.