The Impact of Automotive Product Remanufacturing on Environmental Performance

Remanufacturing, as an emerging industry with great potential, presents an excellent product end-of-life (EOL) alternative to extend the number of product life cycle from one to multiple. However, the procedure to quantify the environmental consequences of the complex life cycle of a remanufactured product is still not yet available. In this regard, a modified cumulative energy consumption method is proposed to effectively assess the relative environmental benefit of a remanufactured product and support the decisions on improving product design and EOL recovery system. The applicability and importance of the proposed methodology has been demonstrated by the two case studies, namely, automotive alternators and engine blocks. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.