Editorials

Remanufacturing – the process of turning a non-functioning core into a high-quality finished product – is gaining steam throughout the trucking industry. And while proponents readily tout reman’s environmental attributes, the business case for fleets, manufacturers, and end users is just as compelling. 

Remanufacturers have the advantage of knowing a product’s performance, allowing them to see design weaknesses that the original manufacturers could not predict. This knowledge allows remanufacturers to implement surgical design and process improvements to solve specific issues and provide a product that is equal to or better than the original in quality, performance, and cost.  Examples are as simple as chrome plating parts prone to rust, using larger bearings to prevent a weak link in an assembly, or adding sensors for service alerts. To back this up, remanufacturers offer the same warranty on a remanufactured part as they do on a new original equipment genuine part. This process allows remanufacturers to offer products no longer in current production, and fleets enjoy a substantial discount to the new original – typically up to 40 percent.

Given the rapidly accelerating evolution of electronics and mechatronics in light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles, suppliers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), dealers, and distributors will encounter an increasing need to address product end-of-production inventory and service level requirements. Many business owners struggle with the risk of inflating their inventory with discontinued SKUs to satisfy possible future demand. Remanufacturing offers an alternative to minimize these last-time buys, thereby reducing stagnant inventory levels, decreasing cash outlays, and improving long-term product life-cycle service levels.

Given the lower cost of remanufacturing compared to standard manufacturing processes, OEMs can significantly lower warranty costs by adopting a comprehensive remanufacturing strategy. Going forward, OEMs and suppliers alike will need to adopt an integrated lifecycle management approach to their new product introductions that includes a design for remanufacturing discipline. This allows fleets to operate their vehicles more efficiently and longer while keeping employees focused and trained on the core business of servicing customers.

Beyond product benefits, jobs, energy and waste savings related to reman are measurable and substantial. For example, one air disc brake (ADB) manufacturer recently announced over 40 million of their ADB calipers on the road worldwide. The amount of energy in those potential ADB cores is equivalent to powering 1.5 million U.S. homes for one year. A fuel injector remanufacturer in Chicago advertises that its process on one product line saves enough energy to power 50,000 U.S. homes for one year. Additionally, remanufacturing renews the life of a core several times before it ends up in a landfill or a recycling station.  Likewise, fleets that prioritize remanufactured products can quantify their positive contribution to the environment and, as a result, private and public sectors globally are starting to see this link and are working on legislation to encourage the trend.

Technological advancements in 3D printing, additive and surface treatment technologies and reverse engineering technologies will allow remanufacturers to reuse an increasing percentage of the core, giving remanufacturers a competitive edge when taking advantage of the new tools available. As fleets demand more remanufactured products, technology will evolve to add more value to an already valuable product.

Quality and reliability will always reign supreme. That’s why remanufactured products must be, at minimum, on par in quality and performance with new products to offer the maximum benefits to fleets, the companies that produce them and the environment. According to the Remanufacturing Industries Council, reman can save 85% of energy, water, and material use compared to a newly manufactured product. And the trend has lead John Chalifoux, president of MERA – the Association for Sustainable Manufacturing, to update the 3 Rs of the environment to now say “Reduce. Reuse. Reman. Recycle.” The association unveiled an update to the well-recognized three-arrow icon to include a fourth arrow.

For a fleet, remanufactured products offer a solution that is equal to or better than new at a substantial cost savings. Additionally, fleets would save resources when buying a ready-assembled remanufactured product vs. repairing in-house. Fleets can help support remanufacturing by demanding MERA certified remanufactured products from reputable sources while also helping a smooth flow of cores back to their suppliers.