Remanufacturing - Different Types of Remanufacturing - Remanufacturing With Loss of Original Product Identity

Remanufacturing With Loss of Original Product Identity

With this method, used goods are disassembled into pre-determined components and repaired to stock, ready to be reassembled into a remanufactured product. This is the case when remanufacturing automobile components, photocopiers, toner cartridges, furniture, ready-to-use cameras and personal computers. Once the product is disassembled and the parts are recovered, the process concludes with an operation not too different from original manufacturing. Disassembled parts are inventoried, just like purchased parts and made available for final assembly.

Remanufacturing with loss of original product identity encompasses some unique challenges in inventory management and disassembly sequence development. Some of the open questions relate to the commonality of parts in products of different generations, the uncertainty in the supply of used products, and their relationship with production planning. The National Center for Remanufacturing and Resource Recovery (NCR3) at Rochester Institute of Technology (NY) is researching remanufacturing processes including testing standards for remanufactured products.