Remanufacturing

Remanufacturing is a central element of the circular economy and closes product cycles while preserving or restoring the product design and the associated product properties, thus enabling reuse. To this end, used products (cores) are first disassembled, the components cleaned and sorted, and then remanufactured and reassembled into as-new products. In contrast to repair, remanufacturing is an industrial process in which the remanufactured product is brought to at least the quality level of a new product and a new product life cycle is made possible.

Remanufacturing encompasses environmental, economic and social benefits. On the one hand, material consumption and environmental impact can be significantly reduced, for example by 88 % and 37 % respectively in the case of starter motors. Secondly, costs can be reduced, which is why the prices for remanufactured products are generally between 40 % and 80 % lower than those for equivalent new products.

For the implementation of remanufacturing in industrial practice, it is necessary to consider the complete life cycle of a product, for which innovative solutions are being researched and developed at the Chair Manufacturing and Remanufacturing Technology. For this purpose, the scientists of the LUP work closely and interdisciplinary with cooperation partners from science and industry.