Remanufacture for sustainability:

Abstract

Remanufacturing is the only end-of-life process where used products are brought back to the Original Equipment Manufacturers’ (OEM) performance specification from the customers’ perspective. At the same time, it offers a warranty equal or better to that of corresponding new products. During this process, products are returned to their original state with minimum waste of material and energy. Moreover, the benefits of remanufacturing are not only limited to ecological aspects but also it provides benefits for both the customer and the remanufacturer. There are barriers which hinder the remanufacturing activities globally. Thus, the purpose of this research is to investigate the present barriers of remanufacturing and propose solutions to the major barriers pertinent to the automotive remanufacturing industry in Sri Lanka. Thematic analysis of related literature, Semi-structured interviews, and industrial case studies was conducted to identify the barriers. Pair-wise comparison was used to prioritise them. The prioritised barriers were listed out, and solutions are proposed to promote local/regional automotive remanufacturing. Moreover, this research develops a business model for automotive parts remanufacturing by identifying suitable automotive parts. Initially, a review of the basic business components of a remanufacturing business was investigated. Then, a survey on the eBay online marketplace and local markets were performed to develop a Remanufacturability Index (RI) for automotive parts. Thematic analysis of related literature with the Business Model Canvas was integrated to generate the business model. These findings are significant for the entrepreneurs, other stakeholders of automotive parts remanufacturing business and other interest groups.