Adaptive Remanufacturing – Methodology towards an intelligent maintenance strategy for production resources

Abstract

In the face of aggravated resource scarcity and increasing environmental awareness, the lifecycle extension of capital goods holds significant ecological and economic potentials regarding improved resource efficiency and productivity. The innovative approach of Adaptive Remanufacturing is being developed to raise these potentials. Adaptive Remanufacturing describes a proactive, intelligent maintenance strategy, based on the optimal time and scope of measures under technical, ecological and economic aspects. Within this paper, the methodological core elements of Adaptive Remanufacturing are presented. In the first development stream, the respective capital good is prepared for the application of Adaptive Remanufacturing. Therefore, a specific product structure analysis is conducted based on the functional structure and decomposability. On this basis, the product components are evaluated and prioritized according to their relevance for remanufacturing. Further, a detailed multi-sensory concept including machine interfaces is elaborated considering different wear mechanisms to enable the selection of specific measures based on condition monitoring and predicted machine conditions. To facilitate this selection, measures have been identified within a comprehensive literature research, evaluated and structured in a measure catalog within the second development stream. Measures have been categorized into main and auxiliary measures according to related efforts and benefits. Benefits are evaluated according to wear mechanisms as well as technical, ecological, and economic criteria. Additionally, they are classified into short- and long-term performance enhancements depending on the influence on the wear reserve of a component. Both development streams are linked in a decision model recommending specific measures based on machine condition predictions derived from sensor values.