Lean Remanufacturing : Reducing Process Lead Time

Remanufacturing is a product recovery option in which used products are brought back into useful life. While the remanufacturing industry stretches from heavy machinery to automotive parts, furniture, and IT sectors, it faces challenges. A majority of these challenges originate from the remanufacturing characteristics of having little control over the core (the used product or its part), high product variation, low product volumes, and a high proportion of manual work, when compared to manufacturing. Some remanufacturing challenges appear to be process challenges that prolong process lead time, making remanufacturing process inefficient. Lean is an improvement strategy with roots in the manufacturing industry. Lean helps to increase customer satisfaction, reduce costs, and improve company’s performance in delivery, quality, inventory, morale, safety, and other areas. Lean encompasses principles, tools and practices to deal with e.g. inefficient processes and long process lead times. Therefore, in this thesis lean has been selected as an improvement strategy to deal with long remanufacturing process lead times. The objective of this thesis is to expand knowledge on how lean can reduce remanufacturing process lead time. This objective is approached through literature studies and a case study conducted at four remanufacturing companies. There are five challenges that contribute to long process lead time: unpredictable core quality, quantity, and timing; weak collaboration, information exchange, and miscommunication; high inventory levels; unknown number of required operations in process and process sequence; and insufficient employee skills for process and product upgrade. When analysing the case companies’ process lead times it was found that there is a need to reduce waiting times, which account for 95 to 99 per cent of process lead times at three of the four companies. To improve remanufacturing process efficiency and reduce remanufacturing process lead time six lean practices are suggested: product families; kanban; layout for continuous flow; cross functional teams; standard operating procedures; and supplier partnerships. The suggested lean practices have a key focus on reducing waiting time since it prolongs the process lead time. This thesis contributes to lean remanufacturing research with the case study findings on lean practices to reduce remanufacturing process lead time and increase process efficiency

On Remanufacturing readiness level : An introduction to RemometerTM

Linear material flows dominate in the Swedish manufacturing industry, and knowledge on remanufacturing as a value-retention process remains limited. Today, only a limited amount of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) for consumer goods (that are acquired for personal use), such as laptops and mobile phones, are remanufactured in Sweden. More support is needed to enhance the remanufacturization (a shift towards remanufacturing) of manufacturing industries by targeting manufacturers that have prerequisites and/or show interest in implementing remanufacturing on their products (later called developing remanufacturing industries). One way to support the developing remanufacturing industries could be by providing a tool to assesses manufacturers’ potential with remanufacturing. The aim of this paper is to introduce such a tool, called the RemometerTM, and to present this approach to measure a company’s remanufacturing readiness level (RRL). The data was collected through a literature study and semi-structured interviews to fulfill the aim of this paper. The authors’ research on lean remanufacturing, in collaboration with EEE, automotive, heavy equipment and machinery manufacturers, service/maintenance providers and retailers, laid the basis for developing the RemometerTM tool.   By assessing 15 subjects shared between four critical to remanufacturing areas, namely, business model, production system, product and customer, manufacturers can measure their remanufacturing readiness level and a gap towards a world-class remanufacturer. However, neither RRL nor a gap is a purpose of the RemometerTM tool, but a useful measure to communicate to top managers on a manufacturer’s potential to become more circular through remanufacturing. RemometerTM is developed to support the remanufacturization of a Swedish EEE manufacturer of consumer goods and can be applied at other developing remanufacturing industries

Challenges and Opportunities of Lean Remanufacturing

Lean philosophy, which promotes business excellence through continuous improvement, originates from the Japanese car manufacturer, Toyota’s Production System (TPS). An area where lean has not been fully explored is remanufacturing, a process that brings used products back to useful life. Remanufacturing is often a more complex process than manufacturing due to the uncertainty of process steps/time and part quality/quantity. This study explored remanufacturing by identifying its challenges and opportunities in becoming lean. The challenges of a lean remanufacturing system do not exceed its advantages. Although some researchers state that it is difficult or even impossible to apply lean principles to remanufacturing, this research utilizes lean as a continuous improvement philosophy that focuses on improving the remanufactured products’ quality, process lead times, and inventory levels. ÅterProdukt, KEA

MINIMUM TIME FOR MATERIAL AND INFORMATION FLOWS ANALYSIS (MINIMIFA) : A METHOD TO IDENTIFY CHALLENGES AND IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Material and information flows are often complex at remanufacturing companies. Minimum time for Material and Information Flows Analysis (MiniMifa) is a data collection workshop in which material and information flows’ challenges and improvement opportunities are investigated. By carrying the idea of Value Stream Mapping (VSM), MiniMifa turns to an act of cartography of industrial processes. After the workshop, companies have a holistic view of their processes, the current “pains” - challenges, and possible “painkillers” – improvement ideas, including lean-inspired solutions. This paper demonstrates a pilot MiniMifa at a forklift truck remanufacturer where a potential improvement in e.g. lead time reduction by 93% was discovered.ÅterProduk

Toward Pull Remanufacturing : A Case Study on Material and Information Flow Uncertainties at a German Engine Remanufacturer

Abstract Together with reuse and material recycling, remanufacturing has emerged as a sustainable approach for used products. Remanufacturing is more complex than manufacturing, due to the uncertainties in material and information flows inside the remanufacturing facility and along the product life-cycle. Therefore, some remanufacturers intend to use lean production principles and philosophies to deal with this complexity and to improve their operations. The aim of this paper is to identify reasons for possible material and information flow uncertainties and develop lean-inspired solution at a German engine remanufacturer. The empirical data were collected via a Material and Information Flow Analysis workshop. The reasons for missing, late, defective and non-available spare parts as well as disrupted, uneven, chaotic and inaccessible information flows are identified. Finally, a lean pull Kanban reordering system is suggested and recognized to be a proper solution to remanufacturing complexity

Remanufacturing: Challenges and Opportunities to be Lean

The lean philosophy, which denotes business excellence through continuous improvement, originates from Japanese car manufacturer Toyota’s Production System (TPS). An area where lean is not fully explored is remanufacturing, a business that brings used products back to useful life. Remanufacturing is often a more complex process than manufacturing due to uncertainty of process steps/time and part quality/quantity.This paper has explored remanufacturing by revealing its challenges and opportunities to be lean. The identified challenges to work with lean do not overcome the advantages of a lean remanufacturing system. Even though some researches state that it is difficult or even impossible to apply lean to remanufacturing, this research recovers lean as a continuous improvement philosophy that not only works for manufacturing but also for remanufacturing.ÅTER PRODUKTIDRELLKEAP

Toward Pull Remanufacturing : A Case Study on Material and Information Flow Uncertainties at a German Engine Remanufacturer

Abstract Together with reuse and material recycling, remanufacturing has emerged as a sustainable approach for used products. Remanufacturing is more complex than manufacturing, due to the uncertainties in material and information flows inside the remanufacturing facility and along the product life-cycle. Therefore, some remanufacturers intend to use lean production principles and philosophies to deal with this complexity and to improve their operations. The aim of this paper is to identify reasons for possible material and information flow uncertainties and develop lean-inspired solution at a German engine remanufacturer. The empirical data were collected via a Material and Information Flow Analysis workshop. The reasons for missing, late, defective and non-available spare parts as well as disrupted, uneven, chaotic and inaccessible information flows are identified. Finally, a lean pull Kanban reordering system is suggested and recognized to be a proper solution to remanufacturing complexity

Towards facilitating circular product life-cycle information flow via remanufacturing

In order to achieve a sustainable development, circular economy approaches and circular material flows are explored in industry. However, circular information flows remain essentially unestablished. The aim of this paper is to: 1) explore categories and types of product life-cycle information available for remanufacturing; 2) identify constraints for efficient product life-cycle information flow via remanufacturing; and 3) propose initiatives to facilitate product life-cycle information flow via remanufacturing. Data was collected through workshops and interviews at five remanufacturing companies. An accumulated Sankey diagram illustrates product life-cycle information flow, losses and bottleneck. Based on the analysis, possible initiatives to facilitate efficient product life-cycle information flow via remanufacturing are presented.Återprodukt, KEAP

Areas investigated when initiating OEM remanufacturing – a case of robotic lawn mowers

The remanufacturing activities on the market are increasing as more companies follow the trend of applying resource-efficient solutions. This trend is also seen among original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) when closing their resource flows. However, as there are few descriptions of how OEMs initiate remanufacturing in practice, there is also little guidance for them to follow. Therefore, to support OEMs in initiating remanufacturing, the aim of this paper is to describe areas investigated during a remanufacturing initiation. This is conducted by studying an OEM of robotic lawn mowers without prior remanufacturing experience and then describing the undertaken journey from primarily producing new products to also offering remanufactured products. The study describes four areas of investigation at the OEM: (1) Select products for remanufacturing, (2) develop the remanufacturing process, (3) determine the quality of remanufactured products, and (4) perform sales activities. These areas are elaborated on to show the considerations of the OEM during the initiation. Based on the findings, the importance of viewing the remanufacturing initiation phases as a system of parallel activities rather than a linear chain is emphasised for future development of guiding remanufacturing initiation frameworks