Remanufactured Products Research Articles

Impact of subsidizing remanufactured products based on their quality rating

Impact of subsidizing remanufactured products based on their quality rating

Analysis and evaluation of adaptive remanufacturing strategies for mechanical products

Abstract Resource scarcity and unsustainable production of products are critical challenges in today’s manufacturing landscape. In this context, adaptive remanufacturing of products could play an important role. This concept prioritizes restoring product functionality over adhering strictly to original specifications, achieving a higher yield in a cost-effective manner. The objective of this work is to explore adaptive remanufacturing and provide methods to analyse the potential in production. For this purpose, four cases of adaptive remanufacturing are differentiated and an assessment matrix to evaluate product suitability for this process, considering various criteria, is presented. These two tools aid industries in assessing the viability and advantages of adaptive remanufacturing, promoting more sustainability across industries.

The effects of new product quality choices and customer behavior on the in-house refurbishing model versus the outsourcing model

Background Refurbishing encompasses the process of collecting used products, refurbishing them into new ones, and offering them to consumers. Within this framework, manufacturers can opt for either in-house refurbishing, managed internally, or outsource these operations to third parties and retailers. Methods Our study also takes into account the limited supply of remanufacturable products and incorporates customer behavior distinctions, differentiating between high-end and low-end customers in our models. The primary aim of this research is to formulate and analyze models for in-house refurbishing, refurbishing outsourcing to third parties, and refurbishing outsourcing to retailers. We seek to identify optimal solutions, conduct a comprehensive analysis, and implement strategies to maximize benefits. Additionally, we compare the in-house refurbishing model with the outsourcing refurbishing model. Leveraging multivariable function optimization techniques alongside the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker method, we endeavor to ascertain the optimal strategy, thereby facilitating a nuanced and methodical examination of the intricate dynamics governing profitability and sustainability within the refurbishing sector. Results Our study has applied rigorous mathematical modeling and optimization methodologies to identify optimal configurations for each model, aiming to enhance profitability across diverse parameters, including product quantities, quality selections, and pricing strategies. Conclusions Our analysis underscores that the in-house refurbishing approach tends to yield superior profits for profit-oriented enterprises, whereas outsourcing refurbishing to retailers is conducive to meeting environmental sustainability goals. Furthermore, our investigation has considered pivotal factors such as the constrained availability of remanufacturable products and consumer behavior, with a particular emphasis on discerning preferences among high-end and low-end clientele. We also perform sensitivity analyses to assess the impact of parameter variations on optimal outcomes. Our findings yield three distinct refurbishing models: the in-house refurbishing model, suitable for profit-driven companies under specific production cost parameters, and the outsourcing refurbishing to retailers model, tailored for environmentally-conscious companies, contingent upon particular production cost parameters.

A waste reduction strategy through autonomation under a closed-loop supply chain management

Currently, apart from manufacturing processes, the remanufacturing of products is considerably important. Appropriate remanufacturing requires the operation of long-run manufacturing systems. However, in long-run processes, the production system may convert to an out-of-control state due to machine breakdowns. Then, defective products are frequently produced; this increases wastage and disrupts environmental sustainability. In this model, a smart autonomation policy is deliberated for an error-free inspection in separating defective products during production. The autonomation policy facilitates waste reduction through remanufacturing. This paper concentrates on customer awareness and service-dependent demand, which directly improves the overall profitability of the system. A discrete investment to reduce setup cost, continuous investment to collect used goods, and cap-and-trade strategy to limit carbon emission are considered to obtain a more realistic model. Classical optimization method is applied for global maximum profit test of the profit function with respect to cycle length, customer awareness, service investment, discrete investment to reduce setup cost, number of shipments, and container capacities. Numerical testing, sensitivity to total profit in different cost parameters, and comparisons with previous research are explained. Some special scenarios including graphical representations are discussed to prove that a large investment is more beneficial than the cost of specific setup and collection.

Unified Modeling and Multi-Objective Optimization for Disassembly Line Balancing with Distinct Station Configurations

Disassembly line balancing (DLB) is a crucial optimization item in the recycling and remanufacturing of waste products. Considering the variations in the number of operators assigned to each station, this study investigates DLBs with six distinct station configurations: single-manned, multi-manned, single-robotic, multi-robotic, single-manned–robotic, and multi-manned–robotic setups. First, a unified mixed-integer programming (MIP) model is established for Type-I DLBs with each configuration to minimize four objectives: the number of stations, the number of operators, the total disassembly time, and the idle balancing index. To obtain more solutions, a novel bi-metric is proposed to replace the quadratic idle balancing index and is used in lexicographic optimization. Subsequently, based on the unified Type-I models, a unified MIP model for Type-II DLBs is established to minimize the cycle time, the number of operators, the total disassembly time, and the idle balancing index. Finally, the correctness of the established unified models and the effectiveness of the proposed bi-metric are verified by solving two disassembly cases of lighters and hairdryers, which further shows that the mathematical integration method of unified modeling has significant theoretical value for the multi-objective optimization of the DLBs with six distinct station configurations.

Remanufacturing in global supply chains: Self-operating or licensing?

Nowadays, globalization and decarbonization have emerged as new normals for supply chains worldwide. In this paper, we investigate remanufacturing strategies within a global supply chain, aiming to provide managerial insights through the research to assist businesses in better integrating into the new normals. Within the global supply chain, an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) located in the home country sells its products to a foreign country through a local retailer. To establish a closed-loop supply chain, the OEM faces two strategic choices, i.e., self-operating remanufacturing in its home country (Strategy A) or licensing remanufacturing to a local remanufacturer (LR) in the foreign country (Strategy B). Utilizing game-theoretical models, our study first explores the operational decisions regarding quantities and prices made by the OEM, the retailer, and the LR. The analysis reveals that a higher cost disparity between the new and remanufactured products or lower cross-border recycling costs for used products can potentially stimulate firms’ incentives for recycling and remanufacturing. Second, upon comparing the equilibrium profits under the two strategies, we demonstrate that lower cross-border recycling costs consistently encourage the OEM to opt for self-operating remanufacturing. Interestingly, we find that the impact of the production cost disparity on the OEM’s strategic choice is non-monotonic; that is, either a low or high disparity of cost can incentivize the OEM to choose licensing remanufacturing, whereas a moderate cost disparity leads to self-operating remanufacturing. We also explored the impact of remanufacturing strategies on sustainability. Furthermore, we have examined governmental preferences regarding firms’ adoption of remanufacturing strategies. Our findings indicate that both countries can benefit from the OEM’s self-operating remanufacturing, providing an explanation as to why cross-border recycling and remanufacturing are not entirely prohibited by governments worldwide.

The impact of green innovations on firm’s sustainable operations: Process innovation and recycling innovation

As the urgency and importance of global carbon emission reduction have escalated in recent years, numerous firms are considering ideas to develop innovative green technologies in order to contribute to the low-carbon economy. This paper examines two types of green innovations adopted by firms, namely process innovation (improving production processes to enhance energy efficiency) and recycling innovation (establishing a circular economy to recycle and re-manufacture waste products). By developing a game-theoretical model, our analytical results reveal the following findings. First, we find that both process and recycling innovations can attract more consumers and improve the firm’s profitability under specific conditions. Second, when the cost advantage of remanufacturing is sufficiently low, the adoption of process innovation is always more profitable than recycling innovation. Otherwise, the profitability largely depends on the trade-off between consumers’ perception of the two green innovations. Third, compared to a single innovation, the adoption of both process and recycling innovations (dual green innovation) leads to a further increase in consumer demand and firm’s profit when the cost advantage of remanufacturing exceeds a certain threshold. Furthermore, the optimal pricing set by the firm and consumer demand become more sensitive to consumers’ perception of greenness when dual green innovation is adopted. Finally, the equilibrium result suggests the existence of a “synergistic promoting effect” when the firm implements dual green innovation, which indicates that the advantages of each innovation are amplified when the firm adopts dual green innovation. These results can serve as guidelines for firms aiming to utilize green innovations in order to reduce carbon emissions.

Effect of green technology for a production system through a reverse logistic process

In modern times, customers are increasingly aware of the environmental risks posed by the premature expiration of smart products. To safeguard the environment, companies have embraced green technology when procuring products. As a result, it is challenging for business managers to capture the market by offering the best quality products at a reasonable price, regardless of the economic situation. This paper presents a production model incorporating reverse logistics to identify defective products. The model involves learning through production and utilizes green technologies. Additionally, a portion of the assembled products is remanufactured after being received from consumers. The remanufactured items are screened and distributed to markets. Both new and remanufactured products are sold to the market based on their quality in the first and second markets, respectively. To reduce product spoilage, manufacturers employ green technology like liquid cooling technology. The numerical results demonstrate that by investing in liquid cooling technology, the production store can reduce spoilage items by 8.50%, a positive environmental outcome regarding waste reduction, and due to the learning effect, the total cost can decrease by 1.44%. The paper includes numerical and sensitivity analyses accompanied by graphs.

Blockchain adoption and mode selection strategies for remanufacturing supply chain under cap-and-trade policy

Environmental conservation and economic advantages have propelled the swift expansion of the remanufacturing industry. Many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) delegate remanufacturing operations to third-party remanufacturers (TPRs) through outsourcing and authorization. Furthermore, blockchain technology enhances consumers’ intention to purchase remanufactured products by disclosing more product information. To investigate the impacts of blockchain on remanufacturing mode selection, this paper focuses on a competitive remanufacturing supply chain comprising an OEM and a TPR under a cap-and-trade policy. Further, four game-theoretic models are derived from whether to adopt blockchain technology and which remanufacturing mode to select. Three major findings are obtained by solving and comparing the four models: (1) Adopting blockchain does not consistently result in advantages for both the OEM and TPR, and they should adopt blockchain for information disclosure in instances where the unit blockchain adoption cost is low, and the disclosure degree of remanufactured product information is also low. (2) Compared with not adopting blockchain technology, if the unit blockchain adoption cost is low, blockchain technology will increase the remanufactured product sales, thereby fostering the advancement of remanufacturing and contributing to reducing the environmental impact. (3) Whether blockchain is adopted or not, the OEM always tends to be in the outsourcing remanufacturing mode. The TPR only opts for the outsourcing remanufacturing mode when consumers’ preference for remanufactured products is high. More importantly, adopting blockchain will likely enhance consumers’ preference for remanufactured products, potentially shifting the TPR’s inclination for remanufacturing mode from authorization to outsourcing in some instances.

Purchasing new for remanufacturing: Sourcing co-opetition, tax-planning and data validation

In practice, to guarantee remanufactured products to be “the same as new”, many remanufacturers purchase the core component and then assemble it with the remanufactured non-core components. Doing so enables the remanufacturer to keep the high product quality and achieve an overall cost saving, but the core component supplier like LG usually has the self-brand business that competes with the remanufacturer. We refer to their relationship as sourcing co-opetition in this study, under which the core component supplier determines its production location: overseas production for tax-planning benefit vs. domestic production for centralized supply efficiency. We reveal that the core component supplier's inclination towards overseas/domestic production is non-monotonic, depending on both the cost disadvantage and the corporate income tax disparity between the production and sales countries/regions. When the new product's cost disadvantage is not significant, overseas production is preferred under either limited or very large tax disparity. Interestingly, we find that overseas production can lead to a higher system profit and better environmental performance, indicating a win-win situation for the Pareto improvement of profitability and environmental sustainability.

Multi-response optimisation of wire-arc additive manufacturing process parameters for AISI 4130 steel during remanufacturing process

Wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) has emerged as a critical tool for remanufacturing industrial components. A limited understanding of this technique for quality product manufacturing has hindered its utilisation for industrial applications. This study reports on the optimisation of WAAM process parameters for AISI 4130 steel towards remanufacturing of high-quality products for industrial applications. AISI 4130 steel was selected for this study due to its high strength-to-weight ratio, excellent weldability, and suitability for the WAAM process. Taguchi’s Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) used four factors and three levels in the multiple response optimisation process. The study considered process parameters voltage, current, travel speed and gas flow in the gas metal arc welding (GMAW)-based WAAM technique. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results show that voltage, travel speed and gas flow significantly affect material deposition. Voltage had the highest significance (31.61%) compared to other parameters. The optimised process parameters were found to be: voltage –23 V, current –100 A, travel speed −350 mm min−1, and gas flow −10 L min−1. These parameters resulted in tensile residual stresses of 25 ± 74 MPa, microhardness of 171.4 ± 12.2 HV0.3, and a relative density of 98.21%. The microstructural analysis reveals the existence of predominant ferritic and pearlitic colonies. This is due to compounded thermal stresses during the deposition process and alloy composition resulting in tailored microstructure and mechanical properties. The study provides some insights into the WAAM remanufacturing process for producing highly quality industrial components.

Theory Plan of Behavior Perspective: Exploring Sustainable Product Remanufacture and its Impact on Purchase Intentions

Environmental concerns globally, encompassing issues like pollution, global warming, and ozone depletion, highlight the urgency for sustainability measures. Within the realm of green initiatives, understanding remanufactured products emerges as a facet of environmental literacy. This research addresses prior inconsistencies by examining mediating factors specifically, the impact of value consciousness and awareness of green products on the inclination to buy remanufactured goods. Collected data through distributing 270 questionnaires which is a sample of data from the entire population of Bali province, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) via AMOS software version 23 was employed for analysis. Findings indicate the pivotal roles of green knowledge of remanufactured products, value consciousness, and awareness in shaping the purchase intention to eco-friendly items. Consequently, this study bears implications for companies aiming to advance sustainable products, and it offers insights for policymakers and industry stakeholders to formulate strategies that foster consumer awareness and green product development.

A Fuzzy Decision-Making Method for Green Design for Remanufacturability

Designs for remanufacturing (DfRem) consider the remanufacturability of the product in the early stages of product design, which can greatly increase the reusability of the products. However, product design schemes lack reasonable evaluation indicators for remanufacturability, and the decision-makers of the design scheme have subjective preferences and vague hesitation. These result in inaccurate decision making on DfRem schemes that will affect the successful implementation of product remanufacturing. In order to improve the accuracy of the DfRem scheme decision, a fuzzy decision-making method for green design for remanufacturability is proposed. Firstly, an evaluation indicator system for green design schemes was established that takes into account remanufacturability, reliability, cost, and the environment, and the entropy weighting method is used to quantify and weigh the design scheme evaluation indicators. Then, the hesitation fuzzy set is applied to construct the set of evaluations and the optimal design scheme is selected by applying the comprehensive evaluation method. Finally, the feasibility of the above method is verified by using the green design of an injection mold as an example, and the results show that the above method is able to make accurate and effective design scheme decisions. This method has been implemented in a prototype system using Visual Studio 2022 and Microsoft SQL Server 2022. The results show that the fuzzy decision-making system is accurate and effective for rapidly generating a rational green design scheme for remanufacturability.

Production and carbon emission reduction decisions of remanufacturing firms with low‐carbon credit financing under uncertain demand

AbstractThis paper investigates the optimal production and carbon reduction strategy for a capital‐constrained remanufacturing firm considering demand uncertainty. The remanufacturing firm can accept low‐carbon credit financing. We construct optimization models with no financing and low‐carbon credit financing and analyze the impacts of capital, carbon emission caps, and other factors on the remanufacturer's decision and profit. The results show that (i) the output of remanufactured products and overall profit are higher when using low‐carbon credit financing, regardless of strict carbon emission conditions; (ii) low‐carbon credit can help remanufacturers withstand the impact of carbon price fluctuations; (iii) the demand uncertainty of new and remanufactured products has opposite effects on carbon emission reduction investment; (iv) increasing the carbon cap can enhance the remanufacturing level while a high carbon cap reduce incentives to remanufacture.

Using a Circular Economy and Supply Chain as a Framework for Remanufactured Products in the Rubber Recycling Industry

The use of a circular economy (CE) in a supply chain is conducive to remanufacturing. It can not only make the supply chain innovative but can also further ease resource consumption and lower pollution, thereby reducing carbon emissions. However, most current research remains focused on the concept of integrating circular economy supply chains (CESCs); few studies have carried out practical research in industry, and research addressing issues regarding the rubber recycling industry is even rarer. Therefore, this study refined the existing framework by screening out key factors that a CESC applies to remanufacturing products. This study conducted an expert questionnaire survey using the FDM to select key factors. Since the 30 respondents selected for this study are all experts in related fields, the reliability and stability of the method and results can be ensured. Meanwhile, this study adopted the fuzzy DEMATEL method to rank the importance of the five selected aspects and nineteen criteria and clarified cause-and-effect relationships between the criteria. The results show that important aspects, including “the circular business model” and “enhancing the resource value in the supply chain”, are both classified as cause groups; there are four main criteria that need to be highlighted, namely, “optimizing the production process”, “effectively tracking and recycling products”, “redesigning remanufactured rubber products”, and “improving resource efficiency”. Therefore, when related industries build CESCs to manufacture remanufactured products, these criteria need to be considered first. This study combined a CESC with remanufactured products, constructed a new framework to expand the related literature, and further analyzed the rubber industry and the underlying rubber recycling industry. Accordingly, related industries can refer to the new framework and key factors to develop production strategies for remanufactured products when implementing a CESC.

An Integrated Design Method for Used Product Remanufacturing Process Based on Multi-Objective Optimization Model

The design for the remanufacturing process (DFRP) is a key part of remanufacturing, which directly affects the cost, performance, and carbon emission of used product remanufacturing. However, used parts have various failure forms and defects, which make it hard to rapidly generate the remanufacturing process scheme for simultaneously satisfying remanufacturing requirements regarding cost, performance, and carbon emissions. This causes remanufactured products to lose their energy-saving and emission-reduction benefits. To this end, this paper proposes an integrated design method for the used product remanufacturing process based on the multi-objective optimization model. Firstly, an integrated DFRP framework is constructed, including design information acquisition, the virtual model construction of DFRP solutions, and the multi-objective optimization of the remanufacturing process scheme. Then, the design matrix, sensitivity analysis, and least squares are applied to construct the mapping models between performance, carbon emissions, cost, and remanufacturing process parameters. Meanwhile, a DFRP multi-objective optimization model with performance, carbon emission, and cost as the design objectives is established, and a teaching–learning based adaptive optimization algorithm is employed to solve the optimization model to acquire a DFRP solution satisfying the target information. Finally, the feasibility of the method is verified by the DFRP of the turbine blade as an example. The results show that the optimized remanufacturing process parameters reduce carbon emissions by 11.7% and remanufacturing cost by USD 0.052 compared with the original process parameters, and also improve the tensile strength of the turbine blades, which also indicates that the DFPR method can effectively achieve energy saving and emission reduction and ensure the performance of the remanufactured products. This can greatly reduce the carbon emission credits of the large-scale remanufacturing industry and promote the global industry’s sustainable development; meanwhile, this study is useful for remanufacturing companies and provides remanufacturing process design methodology support.

Closed‐loop supply chains with product remanufacturing: Challenges and opportunities

Closed‐loop supply chains with product remanufacturing: Challenges and opportunities

Role of risk aversion in operational decisions with remanufacturing under emissions price volatility

Previous studies have extensively investigated the optimal operational decisions for firms under emission trading scheme, assuming a constant emissions price. However, the volatility of the emissions price has always been ignored, leaving the resulting operational decisions unclear for risk-averse firms. In this paper, we examine the impacts of risk aversion in the presence of emissions price volatility. Specifically, we investigate a risk-averse firm that strives to reduce associated costs through emissions abatement under emissions price volatility. The firm sells both new and remanufactured products. To illustrate the role of risk aversion, we sequentially examine risk-neutral and risk-averse scenarios using the mean–variance criterion as the risk aversion measurement. Among other results, we demonstrate that the risk-averse firm has incentives not only to remanufacture all used products, but also to increase the remanufactured quantity under certain conditions. Surprisingly, we find that risk aversion may not always hinder investments in emissions reduction. Subsequently, we discuss how risk aversion influences consumers and the environment, using the life cycle analysis-based approach to model environmental impacts. The results indicate that as the degree of risk aversion increases, consumers are worse-off, and there is a constant conflict between economic and environmental objectives. Additionally, it is interesting to find that the emission abatement investment strategy does not necessarily improve environmental benefits.

Game Models for Ordering and Channel Decisions of New and Differentiated Remanufactured Products in a Closed-Loop Supply Chain with Sales Efforts

Environmental responsibility and economic benefits have promoted the development of closed-loop supply chains (CLSCs), and shortages and channels are considered to be two important issues in a CLSC. This paper explores the ordering and channel decisions in a CLSC with new and differentiated remanufactured products; considers the price and sales-effort-dependent demands, as well as the proportion of emergency orders determined by emergency order costs and backorder losses; and establishes integrated and decentralized CLSC game models. We introduce a stochastic sales effort, which affects two types of products. The numerical results show that sales effort and the order quantity of new and remanufactured products exhibit concave and convex functions, respectively. The upper limit of sales effort has a greater impact on supply chain decisions. High sales efforts can serve as a means of coordinating dispersed supply chains. Moreover, in different cases, the decisions of an integrated channel are better than those of a decentralized channel. Finally, whether the supply chain adopts an emergency order strategy depends on the relative cost of emergency orders and out-of-stock costs. According to this research, some management insights are also provided.

Eco-Design in Manufacturing or Remanufacturing? The Sustainable Options in a Closed-Loop Supply Chain with Outsourcing

Here, the authors focused on determining the increase in consumers’ preferences for sustainable products, including that of OEMs, who are responsible for the drop in new product sales. We also assessed the effects of remanufacturing by outsourcing to third-party remanufacturers. However, the outsourcing of remanufacturing not only enables the producer to offer a remanufactured product at the same time as manufacturing new units; it also provides OEMs with the flexibility required to peruse eco-design in manufacturing and/or remanufacturing. For instance, Gree and Midea have heavily invested in eco-design to reduce energy costs in manufacturing, while Xerox has adopted a modular design approach to divert materials away from landfills and towards remanufacturing. Following observations of real-world applications, the authors developed two theoretical models in which remanufacturing can be outsourced to an independent remanufacturer, endowing the OEM with the flexibility required to enact eco-design in manufacturing or remanufacturing. This analysis reveals that OEMs tend to put more effort into eco-design in manufacturing than in remanufacturing. Furthermore, such efforts in the name of eco-design may be beneficial for both the OEM and the third-party remanufacturer. As such, this paper encourages governments to provide more incentives that will encourage OEMs to invest in eco-design in manufacturing and establish a possible “win–win” scenario in terms of both environmental and economic performances.