the remanufacturing headache
DESCRIPTION
How can we understand what to expect, if we're hoping to remanufacture a product at the end-of-life? What condition will the parts arrive in, and when? Our simulation attempted to capture what really goes on, when products are out in "the wild".TRANSCRIPT
The remanufacturing headache
ContentsReduce, reuse, recycle...?remanufacturing to the rescue ?The remanufacturing headachetime to simulatescenarios consideredproblems identifiedconclusions
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
Recycling.
Making cars out of old cars is a lot easier than making cars out of rock.
Problem solved?
• Carbonconsequences
• Once scrap steel has been collected, heat it to melting point, around 1370°C
• To do this, most foundries use 500 to 800 KWh of energy per tonne
• Using grid electricity, emissions of 0.44528 kg CO2e per KWh...
• Which means 223 – 356 kg CO2e emitted to melt a tonne of steel
• Additional energy usage to shape the material into a new, useful product.
The elephant in the room
Remanufacturing to the rescue?Making products as good as new... or better: the £5bn industry you probably never heard about.
• (Wikner & Tang, 2008)
the ‘closed loop’
What about...
Impact upon primary manufacturing operations ?
Capacity requirements ?
Logistic consequences ?
Costs as well as savings ?
Sources of risk ?
Time to simulate...
• Mathematical analysis could tell us approximately how many components we might expect to get back, but it won’t say anything about the timing of material flows.
Lost
Cannibalize
Refurbish
Sell immediately
Remanufacture
Recycle
Discard
Returned
Make andship
Use
End ofLife
Install
•RModel constructionockwell Automation, ‘Arena’
•Rockwell Automation, ‘Arena’
Cyclicuse phase
•Specifying the scenario to be explored in the simulation...
Qua n
tity
Month
basic scenario
shorter product redesign cycle
Quan
tity
MonthHigh volume demand period reduced to two years
No time for significant remanufacturing activity
less durable product?
Quantity
MonthIncreased the risk of accidental damage to 1 in 20, each month
More remanufacturing, starting earlier
extended reuse of components
Quantity
MonthComponent 3 continues to be used in a successor product
further simulation work
Month
Products supp lied
Tota l pro ducts in s ervic e
•Modelling the total utility derived from the whole ‘fleet’ of products, over their useful life. Considering the energy and materials invested, does society get a good bargain?
• remanufactured scooters, imported from india
•The carburettor on the right was modernised, uprated.
•Cylinder heads had been welded up, and drilled and tapped to take a new spark plug.
•Cylinder barrels were drilled out, and fitted with a new sleeve.
•Hubs simply weren’t round enough, and had to be replaced with new.
•An engine mounting lug sheared off while one scooter was in use.
•Metal fatigue?
•Teeth where the kick start lever engages.
Wear can be accommodated by packing the assembly with a suitable shim.
Required...
manufacturing system that can accommodate
variations caused by recirculated materialcontrol over
the amount of things that come back, and whena
business model that is compatible with what actually
happenssupport from head office
a way to prove that remanufactured goods really are
remanufactured - not bodged
ConclusionsRemanufacturing introduces considerable
logistic strainRelatively easy to do a little(maybe twenty percent) but much harder
to ‘close the loop’some expensive surprises for theill-preparedwe have not yet ‘saved the planet’
conc
lusi
ons
Further articlesfrom Richard Farr at:
http://capacify.wordpress.com