End-of-Life decision tool with emphasis on remanufacturing

Abstract

Remanufacturing is a product recovery strategy resulting in end-of-life products being returned to as new condition or better and receiving a warranty at least equivalent to the original. To differentiate remanufacturing from other forms of product recovery, a clear definition of a remanufactured product is essential. At present two distinct methods for understanding end-of-life recovery strategies exist; a) the use of tools and b) definitions. These current methods fall short however of categorically stating what is and what is not a remanufactured product. Therefore, the responsibility of classifying a product as remanufactured is left to individuals and organizations and so potential exists for products to be incorrectly labelled. By firstly examining the problems associated with using existing methods to determine the status of end-of-life product, and why product identification is important, this paper then goes on to present a new simple innovative method to quickly and accurately determine the status of a product which has undergone an end-of-life recovery strategy, by virtue of a bespoke tool. The tool presented is the result of two rounds of academic and industrial feedback; an initial tool was presented, and underwent critique, at the International Conference on Remanufacturing 2015 with an updated tool then subject to another independent review from academic and industrial stakeholders. The main benefits associated with this tool are, a) a quick way to identify the status of a product, b) a method for researchers to quickly determine the best terminology for end-of-life products which have received a recovery treatment, c) a quick and reliable method to check whether a remanufactured product is labelled as something else, d) an additional way to ensure compliance with existing legislation and standards, and e) an identification of only the essential characteristics of a remanufactured product.