Remanufacturing production planning and control: Conceptual framework for requirement definition

Abstract In the era of environmental degradation and resource scarcity, the concept of circular economy (CE) has emerged as a pivotal strategy to transform the contemporary industrial landscape. As an integral component of the 10R framework, remanufacturing is emerging as a production strategy that revitalizes end-of-life (EOL) products to a like-new condition, fostering a more sustainable production and consumption. Despite its immense environmental and economic benefits, the implementation of remanufacturing practices is confronted with a multitude of challenges, including sourcing of EOL products, managing component variability, and arbitrary failure rates that result in major process inefficiencies. This paper embarks on the definition of functional and non-functional requirements for remanufacturing production planning and control (RPPC) to establish a systematic approach to address the existing challenges and uncertainties that arise in remanufacturing systems. Based on the synthesis of a comprehensive literature study, eight functional requirements and a total of 48 associated key performance measures are derived and contextualized in a coherent conceptual framework. This establishes a consensus to mitigate the impacts caused by uncertainty in remanufacturing. The feasibility of the conceptual framework is validated in an industrial case study with an OEM remanufacturer of electric power steering products. The findings of this research paper advance the field of RPPC and offer guidance to industrial decision-makers to evaluate and optimize their remanufacturing production systems.