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

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. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Peer-review under responsibility of Assembly Technology and Factory Management/Technische Universität Berlin.