Component Reuse in Remanufacturing Across Multiple Product Generations

Abstract Remanufacturing has been considered as viable way to mitigate the side effects of product disposal and reduce associated cost in the entire value chain. However, challenges still remain to be solved for remanufacturing practice. One of the negative facets lies in the fact that the opportunity of component reuse in remanufacturing will be jeopardized due to component obsolescence. In literature, it is claimed that higher profit can be generated if multiple generations of product are designed and manufactured concurrently in a forward-looking manner compared to a single product generation at a time. Furthermore, there is inherent delay in time-to-market of remanufactured products compared to manufacturing new products due to product useful lifespan and reverse logistics lead time. The possibility that remanufacturing will overlap with the life cycle of successive product generations is high. Therefore, it is imperative for designers and remanufacturers to jointly manage component reuse in remanufacturing by deliberately considering product diffusion dynamics and concurrent design of multiple product generations in their decisions such as component commonality, acquisition cost and time delay in remanufacturing. In this paper, we investigate how product diffusion dynamics in the market affect the volume of component reuse in remanufacturing across multiple product generations. The trade-offs with respect to component commonality in product family design among multiple product generations are identified and analyzed based on developed models. Numerical analysis is conducted to demonstrate the applicability of our methodology and generate managerial insights. We anticipate that the outcome of this study could contribute to a better understanding and planning of sustainable product design. In a longer perspective, the results may provide the necessary theoretical foundation for accelerating the development and integration of design, manufacturing, and services to improve responsiveness of the overall design chain and its efficiency from both technical and economic perspective.