The Survey on Cores Supplies in the SME in Automotive Remanufacturing Sector

Abstract

Background: Remanufacturing of automotive components is a developing sector. The majority of companies in this sector belong to the group of SMEs. The remanufacturing benefits to the circular economy concept. The used products referred as are in the remanufacturing process bring back to as good as new condition. Supply management of cores faces a number of problems, which are discussed in the literature but there is still a lack of empirical studies in this domain. Material and methods: The research methodology consists of a literature review, where research papers from the Scopus, Science Direct and Business Source Premier databases were used. On the basis of literature review the problems are identified. The pilot survey was elaborated in order to get in depth knowledge on the organization of the cores' supplies in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Results: The survey was conducted among 40 SMEs in automotive remanufacturing sector. The paper presents the characteristics of the respondents and it identifies sources of the cores supplies. Authors discuss also the main problems which appear by organization of these supplies. Conclusions: A remanufacturing process is more complex than the respective production process. The cores' supply management is crucial for profitability of remanufacturing. This paper provides in depth view on the practical issues in the cores supply management regarding source of cores, quality problems, material matching restriction problems and high variety of cores.