ReMaTecNews | APRIL / MAY 2018 by RAI Amsterdam

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April/May 2018

REMANUFACTURING INTERNATIONAL NETWORK | KNOWLEDGE | BUSINESS

We are the robots Also

Ho w re do m th an we e n in el ex du eva t l str te ev y th el? to e

Alec: brave new world A remanufacturing love story

EDITORIAL

“Things move on: staying ahead of the game is the key”

he celebrated science fiction writer Isaac Asimov came up with three laws which robots had to follow, basically revolving around the idea that they could never do humans any harm. The cover of ReMaTecNews is slightly mischievous: of course, robots don’t really look like that. In industrial settings they tend to look more like mobile washing machines or those sweet-grabbers you get at funfairs. Their use in reman is at a relatively early stage and robot-human collaboration still needs some careful handling – not because of what Asimov had in mind, but because it’s a significant change in the way we do things. But the point is that robots are coming: well, in fact, they are here and have been for some time. Humans are getting used to the idea, perceptions are altering. And if you are looking further proof of the way things change, then consider this nugget of news: an international remanufacturing association

has changed the way it describes itself – by removing the word ‘remanufacturing’ from its name. Thus MERA – The Remanufacturing Association has become MERA – The Association for Sustainable Manufacturing. “The shift better reflects the vision of the organisation and the position of its members in the marketplace,” it said. Fair enough. MERA president John Chalifoux explained: “Remanufacturing – which we simply define as manufacturing with reuse – is sustainable by definition and responsible by design. Our intent is to highlight the corporate social responsibility of manufacturing companies that produce high-quality goods – a second time – by reusing materials and conserving embodied energy in existing products.” It’s hard to argue with this. Whether removing the word ‘remanufacturing’ altogether is the way to go is open to debate. But MERA is a leading organisation in the sector whose membership is indeed diverse. It has recognised that reman comes in a variety of forms, and not everyone who does reman actually calls it that. There is something else, too: in some ways, MERA is surely saying that the importance of remanufacturing is implicit in manufacturing itself – so much so, that there is perhaps no need to spell it out. To be honest, it feels as though we are some way away from that happy state of affairs. Remanufacturing is only starting to gain traction with politicians, and is far from being a word which the person in the street understands. But there is no doubting MERA’s commitment to reman: in years to come we may well recognise that the association was simply ahead of the game. Just like Asimov. Adam Hill Editor

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Published by RAI Amsterdam B.V. P.O. Box 77777, 1070 MS Amsterdam The Netherlands In association with Route2Market Editor Adam Hill: editorial@rematecnews.com Phone: +44 (0)7931 502947 US correspondent Denise Rondini: drondini@gmail.com Asia-Pacific correspondent Tim Maughan: easternscribe@hotmail.co.uk Route One Publishing Managing Director Andrew Barriball: abarriball@ropl.com Project & Production Manager Miranda Le Croissette: mlecroissette@ropl.com Phone: +44 (0)1322 612080 Contributors in this issue Peter Bartel, Wolfgang Gerke, Daniel Koehler, Tim Maughan, Denise Rondini, Volker Schittenhelm, Tessa Vlaanderen, Fernand Weiland, Jonathan Wilkins Marketing Communications & PR Evelien Feijen: e.feijen@rai.nl Phone: +31 (0)20 54915 81 Advertising Sales Yorien de Ruijter Phone: +31 (0)20 5493075 Fax: +31 (0)20 5491889 advertising@ReMaTecnews.com Publisher Evelien Feijen (responsible under Dutch Press Law) e.feijen@rai.nl Design, Production & Printing Route One Publishing Ltd Copyright RAI Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Reproduction No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, RAI Amsterdam B.V. Subscription magazine & eNewsletter www.rematec.com Change of address info@ReMaTecNews.com ReMaTecNews online www.rematec.com/news Circulation Approx.13,500 readers per edition. The magazine is delivered on a controlled circulation basis to recipients in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa, North America, South America and Asia.

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CONTENTS

This is how we’re going to elevate remanufacturing Technical innovation is the spark that will drive us all forward

A reman love story

COVER STORY We are the robots The future is now: German electronics reman firm Alec reckons automation is going to help customers

A new report on the US remanufacturing industry highlights ways to speed up growth

12 16

Navistar extends its reman programme, MERA has an identity change - and ReMaTec is represented on China trade mission

AS-PL’s quirky promotional video did something unexpected - it made alternators into an online sensation

News

‘A sense of urgency and opportunity’

Viewpoint

Adapting to survive Detroit Reman must have been doing something right in order to stay in business for half a century

What goes around A transmission reman project between STS and Volvo Cars has created something to be proud of

‘If you’re choosing a reman robot, think very carefully about what you want,’ says Jonathan Wilkins

APRA creates member value Trade body can lobby and raise awareness in ways that SMEs simply cannot on their own

FIRM sees green solution Buying a reman engine is not making a compromise - it’s saving the planet

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NEWS

REMATEC IN CHINA ReMaTec was represented on a key European trade visit to China. Niels Klarenbeek, director remanufacturing and refurbishment at ReMaTecNews publisher RAI Amsterdam, gave a presentation on the ReMaTec brand during a conference at last month’s Intelligent Manufacturing & Remanufacturing China Mission. Other presentations were from the China Association of Circular Economy and from the European Remanufacturing Council (CER) – both organisations also signed a memorandum of understanding with one another. The visit to Beijing and to the reman demonstration area at Hejian, in Hebei province, was attended by delegates from the European Union including representatives from Lexmark and IBM. Klarenbeek said: “It was an excellent opportunity to get under the skin of this growing reman market.” The purpose of the visit was to identify synergies and collaboration opportunities between the UK and China in the field of intelligent manufacturing and to understand policies such as the ambitious industrial strategy Made in China 2025.

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Navistar expands ReNEWed programme

Navistar: brand strategy

Navistar has revealed changes to its ReNEWed remanufactured components business. The US truck group plans to extend its product portfolio during 2018, starting with the 2015 N13 engine and the 20102016 I6 engine – in addition to offering more remanufactured electronic components such as engine control modules,

instrument clusters and body controllers. “When you combine Navistar technical knowledge with industry-leading customer support solutions, the strategy behind the ReNEWed brand is crystal clear,” said Josef Kory, senior vice president, parts at Navistar. “ReNEWed offers customers the ability to re-engineer their uptime,

delivering higher value than other remanufactured brands.” A new ReNEWed brand mark will appear on components from this spring. The company talks of leveraging its OEM expertise to “go beyond simply remanufacturing”. It adds: “ReNEWed products are many times re-engineered, incorporating many mid-cycle design modifications and enhancements that were previously introduced in the new product line-up.” Navistar is also expanding its Fleetrite private label parts business – and together, the two brands offer more than 100 product lines giving customers alternatives when it comes to repairs and maintenance, lifecycle value, and total cost of ownership. “Our parts business has delivered double digit growth over the past five years, and much of that success is due in large part to our commitment of providing customers the right products to support our dealers’ and customers’ needs,” says Kory.

Reman comes to Jamaica A new company selling remanufactured auto parts is to be launched in Trelawny, Jamaica. Led by car dealer Gordon Baldie, i-Card will sell the parts in association with an unnamed reman partner in the Netherlands. “It will result in saving

of 40-60% when compared with the original manufactured parts,” Baldie is quoted as saying in the Financial Gleaner. The new firm aims to expand from importing parts to remanufacturing its own from next year.

US remanufacturing sector ‘can grow faster’ US remanufacturing is advanced but has the capacity to grow even faster if the industry gets the right support from government, academia and business groups. That is the key finding of a new report, Accelerating growth of the US Remanufacturing Industry: A Stakeholder Guide. While the US reman industry is expected to grow as a result of existing international market developments anyway, report author Tess Vlaanderen

(pictured) notes: “In a scenario of leadership and collaboration across US stakeholder groups, this predicted growth can be significantly larger. This scenario is not far-fetched: the benefits associated with remanufacturing address a broad range of growing concerns that can engage an increasing number of stakeholders in taking action to support the industry.” •‘A sense of urgency and opportunity’, p12 Do you have what it takes? Check www.rematec.com/roty

NEWS

Turbo Guy wins cash backing

The Turbo Guy

Two Glasgow reman specialists are among nine companies to have won a share of nearly £250,000 funding from the Scottish Institute for Remanufacture (SIR) to develop their businesses. The Turbo Guy specialises in the reman of turbochargers and diesel particulate filters, has 14 staff and already works with Heriot Watt University on applying circular economy strategies to its operation. Meanwhile, Mackie Transmission Systems was set up in 1977 and remanufactures automotive, industrial and marine transmissions. It employs 35 staff and works with the reman group at the University of Strathclyde (where SIR is based) to improve its processes. Since it was set up in 2015, SIR has awarded over £700,000 to 32 projects.

All change for MERA brand Reman trade body MERA, which rebranded itself as The Remanufacturing Association last year, has decided that it will be known from now on as MERA – The Association for Sustainable Manufacturing, saying that the name “better reflects the vision of the organisation and the position of its members in the marketplace”. “Remanufacturing – which we simply define as manufacturing with reuse – is sustainable by definition and responsible by design,” stated MERA president and chief operating officer John Chalifoux. “Our intent is to highlight the corporate social responsibility of manufacturing companies that produce highquality goods – a second time – by reusing materials and

conserving embodied energy in existing products.” MERA argues that its members come from diverse industries, and various terms are “used to describe an industry’s leading sustainable manufacturing process”. MERA says: “In the automotive and commercial vehicle sectors, the term is remanufacturing. In aviation and aerospace, the process is called maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO); in electronics, refurbishing is the established reference.” MERA chairman David Overbeeke called it a “new era” for the organisation: “Our members are leaders in the circular economy, and with this announcement we will be able to more clearly communicate both their manufacturing expertise and environmental stewardship.”

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NEWS

PurePower: senior hires

SUNDIN TAKES CER ROLE Leading reman academic Erik Sundin has been tasked with providing a networking role for the European Remanufacturing Council (CER). Sundin, associate professor at Linköping University in Sweden, is to be the first ‘principal academic networker’ for the reman organisation. As it is a new post, he will be expected to “define and develop the role”, which runs until December 2020, and help the council to co-ordinate relevant research and link it to business needs. Sundin is also one of the organisers of the biannual International Conference on Remanufacturing (ICoR), which will be returning to the ReMaTec show in 2019. Reman is estimated to be worth €30 billion in Europe and the CER aims to see this grow to €100 billion by 2030 as businesses adopt new technologies and business models.

PurePower makes appointments PurePower Technologies, the US firm which specialises in remanufacturing diesel fuel injectors and turbochargers for OEMs and the aftermarket, has made two senior appointments. Greg Butler has been made executive vice president of operations, overseeing day-to-day running

of the company, while Noel Ranka will be the firm’s chief sales and marketing officer. Both will report to CEO Jerry Sweetland. Butler is returning to the company after five years with FN America, where he served as vice president and chief operating officer. His most recent role at PurePower

was as director of the engine systems business unit at the company’s Blythewood manufacturing facility. He has also been senior programme manager, manufacturing at Raytheon Technical Systems and plant manager of Owens Corning – both jobs in Indianapolis. Sweetland said he “brings a wealth of operational experience to our senior leadership team”. Ranka joins PurePower after a long career at JAC Products in Pontiac, Michigan, most recently as chief marketing and sales officer, where he created and led a global sales team. Sweetland said his experience in product engineering “will provide us with a diverse background and understanding of the OEM and aftermarket commercial vehicle markets”. Ranka worked in various product engineering roles for Ford Motor Company.

Camso launches wheel reman Camso has launched a certified remanufactured tracks and wheels programme, on the basis that customers are increasingly aware of remanufacturing’s possibilities. Martin Lunkenbein, service and aftermarket sales executive director at Camso, called it a ‘game changer’. “Customers can

now think of a product that provides the lowest operating cost through its first life, while considering the multiple lives that can be delivered after its initial cycle,” he said. The scheme was piloted last summer, and the company said its reman products performed as well as new ones.

Alec opens new facility

Erik Sundin

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ACT Group has launched its car electronics reman business in Munich, Germany. Whollyowned subsidiary Alec was officially opened last month, with delegates invited to the site (right) for presentations on the state of the reman industry. Guests included former Remanufacturers of the Year Rolf Steinhilper of Bayreuth University and Borg Automotive’s Søren Toft Jensen. Alec says it is the world’s first robotised electronics reman plant, and uses automatic guided

vehicles (AGVs) to enable bulk remanufacturing. Chief commercial officer Thijs Jasink says: “AGVs allow us to have flexible processes in

a quicker way. Our automated robots take the products to the relevant department, where they are diagnosed with extreme precision and remanufactured.” The new venture is aimed at larger companies who require batches of the same component to be remanufactured. ACT employs approximately 250 people at several sites worldwide, and Alec’s staff is set to grow to 20 when full remanufacturing begins. •Brave New World, p23

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NEWS

EU looking east not west Hugo Schally, European Commission head of unit for sustainable production, products and consumption, has suggested that the European Union needs to look first towards China as a partner when it comes to delivering better circular economy outcomes. He was speaking at a European Parliament meeting on reman, following reports from the World Economic Forum in Davos that the US economy had been declared ‘more circular’ than the European economy. At the same meeting, European Remanufacturing Council head David Fitzsimons said: “No-one should

Eaton expands aftermarket footprint

underestimate the ambition of China or the enormous scale of opportunities to industrialise remanufacturing.” The importance of reman was given support by Stephane Arditi from the European Environment Bureau, who talked about the theme of a remanufactured product being as good as a new one. He pointed out: “Surely, if a remanufactured product is performing as well as a new one, it is actually better than new? It doesn’t require more mining, it saves on processing, it has a smaller resources and energy footprint. Yes, we can say remanufactured products are better than new.”

Power management company Eaton has added Chalk’s Truck Parts in Houston to its North American authorised rebuilder programme, a scheme which allows local users to buy rebuilt transmissions from Eatonapproved outlets. It now has five members, all of which have access to Eaton’s warranty process and marketing support. Chalk’s opened for business in 1957

and currently employs 60 people. Bill Fouch, product manager, aftermarket transmission products, Eaton, said the move would “expand our coverage into a strategically-important area of the country”. The other four companies in the programme are: Power Train, Indianapolis; TransAxle, New Jersey; Drivetrain Services, Illinois; and Pacific Truck in Edmonton, Alberta.

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STARTERS & ALTERNATORS

A reman love story

A short video about an alternator became an unlikely online hit for Polish automotive group AS-PL. Group president Danuta Kaszubowska explains how it came about – and also offers some thoughts on women’s changing roles in the industry

ouTube sensations normally involve pop stars – or cats on waterskis. You would not bet on a Polish automotive group with a thriving remanufacturing arm capturing the imagination of the online community. Formed in 1992, AS-PL’s activities include alternator and starter reman – not something that usually sets the pulse racing (outside of the pages of ReMaTecNews, at any rate). But ‘Alternator Love Story’ did just that: with nearly 10,000 likes and more than 6,000 shares in its first 48 hours, the funny, four-minute story of an owner’s love for his vehicle caught the imagination. As a result, Gdaŷsk-based automotive company AS-PL’s expectations for its promotional film were well and truly exceeded.

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Creative freedom “When we decided to record an ad, we also wanted to give the writers full creative freedom,” explains Danuta Kaszubowska, president of the group’s management board. “There was one main condition that we set Wytwórnia Filmów Kalina studio from Gdansk: the video had to refer to the history of AS-PL. We also wanted something funny, non-standard.” With its mix of comedy and sentimentality – taking in lederhosen, skinheads and a low-speed chase on a child’s bicycle - the video is undeniably that. “The studio presented a couple of their ideas,” Kaszubowska goes on. “We decided we wanted a video which focused on the emotions of the viewer, rather than on the product itself, the alternator. The final version is a film

with a great cast which tells a story about sentimental love for a car. The adventures of the protagonists intertwine with retrospectives from the middle of the 1990s. We did not anticipate the huge popularity of the video on the internet. I think that the AS brand will be remembered by the audience. So, this is a success for us. Time will tell whether this will translate into a business success.”

Crucial element Reman is a “crucial element of our business”, Kaszubowska continues. “We install approximately 10,000 regenerated parts monthly. We focus on high quality standards and the durability of products.” Keen on expansion, in 2016 the firm opened a manufacturing facility in Lubichowo, near Starogard Gdaŷski, with new production lines and a 5,000 m² warehouse, equipped with testing

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STARTERS & ALTERNATORS

mstime.com

Danuta Kaszubowska President, management board, AS-PL

equipment from Canadian specialist D&V Electronics and Motoplat from the Netherlands. “Our goal is to supply reliable products customised to the present market needs with the use of modern technologies,” she says. AS-PL is solely owned by Polish shareholders and has more than 200 staff. The company offers more than 15,000 products, corresponding to nearly 200,000 reference numbers, and includes parts and components for cars, trucks, farming machinery, vessels and motorcycles. “I have to say, however, that our road to success was not a bed of roses,” she concludes. “It required the founders and employees to demonstrate huge determination in overcoming obstacles and problems, as well as audacity.” Kaszubowska herself seems to embody these qualities. Recently named among the 100 most enterprising women in Poland, she sets out her thoughts (right) on how the role of women is changing in business in general – and automotive reman in particular.

Q There are not many women in senior business roles in automotive – what can be done to change this? A At first glance you could say that the automotive industry is a ‘man’s world’. But I think that the industry is developing thanks to both women and men. This is a sector like any other – absorbing, exciting, full of challenges, which I love to work in. I think that gender is not an issue here. Different perspectives should be an inspiration, not a source of conflict. A female manager demonstrates general traits such as courage, competence, willingness to grow professionally, being open to changes. Listening to your employees, consistency, and empathy are also important. All of us have to define goals for ourselves and believe that we can complete them in order to achieve success. A successful businesswoman also needs to do something apart from working, to follow her passions. How can we increase the number of female managers? Publicly accessible research shows that women spend much more time doing things at home than men. The first thing we have to introduce, then, are flexible working hours which will enable women to combine work with home responsibilities. Motivational sessions and mentoring can provide additional support. Q As a woman in the automotive industry, how are you treated? A I have noticed an increase in women in the automotive industry over the last couple of years. I am glad that more and more often women take up management responsibilities. It turns out that we don’t have any problems with making tough decisions. We know how to negotiate. We combine female sensibility with decisiveness, taking down stereotypes in the process. I’d like to recall the words of Henryka Bochniarz, a member of the supervisory board of FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles), Poland: “Women are a perfect fit for the automotive industry and hold high functions, even though it is said that the sector is dominated

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by men. Women manufacture vehicles, design new cars, work in repair garages. They also drive vehicles in national and international transport. So women work in this industry. They are still a minority, but the sector has been undergoing major changes. Their numbers grow year by year. Six years ago, the number of women in the automotive industry amounted to 30% of the whole workforce, now it’s nearly 35%, while the same statistics in the European Union have not changed for years. According to business journal Puls Biznesu and Eurostat data from 2015 there are over 3.2 million people working in this sector and 25% of them are women. The same year saw 255,000 new employees, 90,000 of which were women. This is 10% more than the EU average. In Poland every third person employed in the automotive industry is a woman, while in the EU – every fourth. More and more women are applying for jobs and this phenomenon can be observed mainly in Poland.”

Q When you were named in the top 100 most enterprising women in Poland, you said females “successfully combine female sensitivity with decisiveness, refuting the stereotypes”. How does the industry fight these stereotypes? A The way we perceive a woman’s function in society has changed during the last decade. Women became more financially independent. They invest more and save more. They create companies and achieve success. Women know how to plan their expenses. They are motivated. What should we do to fight stereotypes? Let me twist your question – all you need to do is read the research results.

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RESEARCH

‘A sense of urgency and opportunity’ The US is a world leader in remanufacturing – but with a bit of input from government, interest groups and industry itself, it could grow faster, according to a report by Tessa Vlaanderen of Circular Futures

he US is currently the world’s largest producer, consumer, and exporter of remanufactured goods – a surprise, perhaps, since the circular economy appears to get more coverage in other territories, Europe and China in particular. But building on the existing US leadership in remanufacturing would be an “attractive and effective way of growing the US circular economy”, suggests a new report. The US remanufacturing industry is expected to grow as a result of existing international market developments anyway, the report notes: “However, in a scenario of leadership and collaboration across US stakeholder groups, this predicted growth can be significantly larger. This scenario is not far-fetched: the benefits associated with remanufacturing address a broad range of growing concerns that can engage an increasing number of stakeholders in taking action to support the industry. Remanufacturing is worthy of attention and focus in the effort to mainstream a circular economy in the US.” Accelerating Growth of the US Remanufacturing Industry: A Stakeholder Guide looks at practical steps which can be taken to make this a reality. It is written by Tessa Vlaanderen, the founder and principal consultant of Circular Futures, a New York-based consulting group and thinktank. She is a veteran in the circular economy field. As well as holding two

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degrees - a master’s in sustainable process and energy technology and a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering – from Delft University of Technology, Vlaanderen cofounded the Circular Economy Network and has worked with various corporates.

Quality and consistency Only remanufacturing assures high quality and consistency, the report points out. “As a consequence, whenever remanufacturing is technically feasible, it should be the first product recovery strategy to be considered as it maximises value generation for consumer and business, and therefore of overall resource productivity,” Vlaanderen adds.

Examining activities The report examines the activities of six key stakeholder groups. As well as independent remanufacturers (IR), original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and governments, it looks at: • End customers, whose demand has been a “driving force” for reman – and by “shifting revenue from product sales to services, companies can meet that demand while positively impacting income”. • Academic organisations, which “can catalyse collaboration in precompetitive, public-private research and development, increasing insight

into opportunities and progressing technologies”. • Business interest groups, which increase industry alignment and visibility, and “articulate industry growth needs and opportunities, contributing to the effectiveness of government actions”.

Government role While the role of the private sector is vital in developing reman, Vlaanderen argues: “The importance of government influence on the growth opportunities of the remanufacturing sector should not be underestimated. Past actions contributed to the strong position of the US remanufacturing industry today and ranged from stimulating government procurement as well as trade and market regulation (nationally and internationally) alongside stimulation of sustainable manufacturing innovation covering remanufacturing.” Governments can adapt market conditions to enhance OEM-IR collaboration and competition, to stimulate demand or to increase the availability and access to used products – although interagency co-ordination is crucial, she states. But a great deal of effort is required to keep this up. While the US International Trade Commission report of 2013 was “very helpful in increasing industry visibility and developing international trade initiatives…the size and impact

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RESEARCH

of the industry have not been assessed since”. There is room, Vlaanderen says, for the development of new product and customer segments, business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) markets. Also, the importance of OEMs’ intellectual property interests has to be balanced with “consumer/independent remanufacturer/repair shop interests”: “‘Right to Repair’ laws would enable remanufacturing as much as repair.” Academia can also help – she cites the Rochester Institute of Technology’s efforts to promote reman – by developing multi-disciplinary education and research programmes, developing reman expertise and tailoring research to what stakeholders actually need.

Independents and OEMs Independent remanufacturers have an essential role to play in growing reman, not least because – having lower margins than OEMs - they can capture opportunities. Also, Vlaanderen writes, “they are not hampered by a perceived

Best practices for interest groupdriven growth

Best practices for OEM-driven growth

• Develop a representative membership base • Create alignment and catalyse collaboration between members • Develop external networks and strategic relationships • Support the development of databased justification for standpoints • Contribute to general awarenessraising and industry profiling

• Service model targeting low total cost of ownership • Leverage forward logistics networks for product returns • Design for remanufacturing • Unlock foreign markets • Leverage environmental benefits to support brand image • Consider partnership with independent remanufacturer

threat to new product sales and therefore will often be the first, or in some cases the only ones, to remanufacture a specific product line”. Some OEMs, such as Caterpillar, see reman as an important part of their business model, but many OEMs choose not to remanufacture their

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➤

RESEARCH

“Whenever remanufacturing is technically feasible, it should be the first product recovery strategy to be considered as it maximises value generation” Tessa Vlaanderen

➤ decreases its attractiveness”. But she sees

OEMs as a key driver of reman growth for three reasons. They: • can scale up quickly and aggregate volumes that drive economies of scale • can play a leading role in unlocking foreign markets • have a “unique capacity to contribute to remanufacturing progress

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regarding (smart) supply chain integration, production technology R&D and most importantly in designing for remanufacturing building on increasing volumes of customer data”.

Urgency and opportunity In short, Vlaanderen sees the reman industry as being “increasingly well organised, raising awareness of

governments at various levels on impacts of rules and regulations”. But she acknowledges: “Their effectiveness requires a broad and aligned membership base: quite a challenge considering the diversity in sectors, company sizes and interests they represent.” Nevertheless, Vlaanderen sees “a sense of urgency and opportunity for circular growth”. Describing her work as a “first step”, she thinks that follow-up studies could usefully examine the role of forward and reverse logistics firms. “More importantly, next steps should include awarenessraising initiatives, business development, and research, as well as the creation of collaborative roadmaps, frameworks or action plans. Those will truly impact the progress of remanufacturing within society, businesses, sectors, regions and the US as a whole,” she concludes. Tessa Vlaanderen is the founder of Circular Futures, a New York-based consulting group and thinktank www.circularfutures.com

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NOTES & COMMENT

Best of

VIEWPOINT

Choosing a reman robot? Think hard about what you need Jonathan Wilkins rom robotic conductors to robot vacuum cleaners, there is a vast choice of automated systems available for different purposes. Because there are so many options, it can be difficult for companies to choose which model to invest in. The first priority should be to narrow down by application, as this determines the type of robot needed. If you’re looking to automate a pick and place activity, a SCARA (selective compliance assembly robot arm) robot might be most suitable. If your application requires the robot to work closely alongside human staff, a collaborative robot will most likely be for you. Different applications will require different numbers of axes of motion, payloads, speed and reach. It is important to check these features to make sure the robot can perform the task required at your facility. Once you’ve specified the action you’d like the robot to perform, you can consider the size of the work area to make sure it will suit your production line. You must also take into account the accuracy and repeatability of the robot – it is a common mistake to buy an accurate robot without considering how well it repeats the accurate motion. It’s useful to know if the robot manufacturer

or systems integrator that you’re purchasing from offers a preventative maintenance contract, whether this is 24/7 and what it includes. Knowing this in advance will minimise the risk of a breakdown and being hit with unexpected costs down the line. Running costs will also depend on the expected use of a robot and power usage. Looking at the reliability and life span of the robot may help to guide you towards the best value for your application. Introducing a new robot is sure to impact your staff. This is particularly noticeable when introducing collaborative robots, which work directly alongside humans. Companies must ensure that staff are comfortable with the purchase and receive sufficient training. You should

ensure your company has the capacity to provide any training needed so that staff understand robot programming and operation and can follow safety standards like crush zones and access areas. The programming ability of your staff must be up to the challenge of a new robot, otherwise it will be extremely difficult to operate it correctly. The best robots are well designed, safe and userfriendly. By thinking carefully, you can combine a human workforce with a robot to best achieve business goals.

Jonathan Wilkins, director of EU Automation

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the Blog Unintended consequences of environmental policy Multiple policy instruments achieve different objectives in different stages of product lifecycle and must not come at the expense of the other as it will only move the problem somewhere else along the value chain. Current policies have unintended consequences since while supporting recycling, they lead to the detriment of remanufacturing. However,

it must be noted that a policy that will support remanufacturing will most likely also support recycling because the two processes happen at different phases in a product’s life cycle in their pecking order. Also, every product that is ‘remanufacturable’ can potentially be recyclable. But every recyclable product may not necessarily be good for remanufacturing. If material and resource savings and preservation of the embodied energy were set as policy objectives, then a separate policy instrument must be developed. In other words, the benefits resulting from remanufacturing are not currently addressed in any of the existing policy instruments and a separate policy that directly encourages remanufacturing must be established. • To read more, go to www.rematec.com/blogs ReMaTecNews

THE BIG INTERVIEW

WORKING HARD to be flexible and dynamic

Detroit Reman has been in business for half a century: Amanda Snyder tells ReMaTecNews US correspondent Denise Rondini how the firm has changed with the times ontinually steady growth is a good way to describe the development of Detroit Reman over its more than 50year history. “We started as a Reliabilt programme back in 1966,” said Amanda Snyder, vice president, engineering and business development at Detroit Reman. Reliabilt was part of the Detroit Diesel division of GM and was set up to standardise and formalise distributor remanufacturing operations. “We had participating distributors in Tennessee, Ohio, Texas, Utah and California,” Snyder explained. Those distributors sold the majority of the company’s products to other distributors. In 1988, GM sold Detroit Diesel Engine to Penske, and Detroit Diesel Corporation was born. Two years later, in 1990, Detroit Diesel Remanufacturing was formed from the acquisition and consolidation of strategically located Detroit Diesel distributor-owned remanufacturing operations. The company ended up with three locations in Byesville, Ohio; Toole, Utah; and Emporia, Kansas.

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Starting to grow While still under Penske ownership, “We grew a little bit more and in 1991 we purchased an injector manufacturing operation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from GM and called it DTC Reman”, Snyder said. The injector remanufacturing operations of DTC were spun off in 1997 and became part of Detroit Diesel Remanufacturing Corp. The company name was changed to Detroit Diesel Remanufacturing North. In 2000, Daimler-Chrysler bought Detroit Diesel - including the remanufacturing operation. The company grew again in 2005 with the opening of reman operations in Toluca, Mexico. In 2007, Daimler Trucks North America, the company that emerged following the sale by Daimler of Chrysler, purchased DMR electronics, a manufacturer and remanufacturer of electronics located in Hibbing, Minnesota. In 2008 Detroit Diesel Remanufacturing North became North American Fuel Systems Remanufacturing, a 50-50 joint venture with Bosch. Today, Detroit Reman

remains part of the Daimler Trucks North America family. Things quietened down for a few years, until last year when Detroit Reman purchased Mascot Truck Parts, a provider of remanufactured driveline components for the medium- and heavy-duty aftermarket, in Canada.

Adjusting business One of the biggest accomplishments of Detroit Reman, according to Snyder, “is its ability to adjust our business, our products and our portfolio with the changing needs of our parent company, but also the needs of remanufacturing outside of heavy-duty trucks”. She added: “For us it has been about making the adjustments and seeing the future of remanufacturing and what was needed.” She explained that the company looks at how it has to change its business to respond to upcoming changes. That philosophy is what led to the purchase of Mascot. “They have all makes driveline components which adds to our portfolio,” Snyder explained.

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THE BIG INTERVIEW

Detroit Reman’s approach has been a combination of “growing the business through acquisition, but also changing what it does in-house,” Snyder said. The changing needs of the market, customers and the parent company have also presented challenges. “We need to quickly make adjustments in our operation to adjust our business to the changing market needs,” Snyder said. “We work really hard to be both flexible and dynamic in our business.” If you look back traditionally Detroit Reman served a lot of the old Series 60 engines. Snyder called that product the company’s ‘bread and butter’ engine.

Hundreds of thousands “There were hundreds of thousands of those engines in this country and outside this country and that was our prime portfolio,” she explained. “As our portfolio grows and there are changes from our parent it is being able to adapt to that quickly and then also taking a step back and saying what else can we do. Remanufacturing is great for more than just our business and where else can we service those needs. Those have been the challenges, understanding your customers, their markets, their distribution channels and how can we adapt to give them the value and benefit of remanufacturing?” As a result, Detroit Reman is more than just an engine remanufacturer although clearly they do remanufacture engines. Other product lines include: electronics, transmissions, fuel systems, aftertreatment, axles/carriers, turbochargers, and fuel systems. Its products can be used in medium- and heavy-duty trucks, automotive, mining, marine, military, industrial and light rail applications. In addition to reman for its own customers, Detroit Reman also does contract remanufacturing for other companies in the commercial vehicle, heavy-duty, off-road, automotive and agricultural markets. By having Detroit Reman remanufacture their products these companies are able to recapture aftermarket business for older vehicles that might have gone to valued priced parts manufacturers. Contract remanufacturing customers leverage Detroit Reman’s production facilities, employees, recovery technologies, capabilities and core consolidation processes.

3D printing

“I want to make sure I have the best tools available for our organisation to be able to provide high quality, best-cost solutions both internally and externally” Amanda Snyder

Success witness Snyder has been with Detroit Diesel Corporation since 2005 so has witnessed much of the success of Detroit Reman. She began as a buyer of non-ferrous castings. After her initial stint with Detroit Diesel she did work for Mercedes-Benz in military applications on the supplier development side. Following that she spent a few years at the company’s Fort Mill office, which is the company’s aftermarket service products group. In that capacity she worked with extended coverage programmes. In 2016 she moved to Detroit Reman in her current role as vice president of engineering and business development. “My role here is to focus on growing our business from the revenue level we are at today to where our five-year goal plan is.”

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Since Snyder counts flexibility and adaptability as one of the strengths of Detroit Reman, ReMaTecNews was curious about whether she thought 3D printing and additive manufacturing would impact remanufacturing. “I think it will. I think it will depend on the need and the price. There are certainly a lot of benefits to being able to scan information and then create parts.” She added: “It is something I am very interested in. I want to make sure I have the best tools available for our organisation to be able to provide high quality, best-cost solutions both internally and externally. We are very interested in following quite closely developments of things like 3D printing to determine where and when does that fit in with our operation. It is always a balance to make sure you are getting the best for you, your customers and the team you work with. We are very excited about all of the new changes that are coming from the industry and about how we can support them.”

ReMaTecNews

2018

NEW: Introducing New Award Categories

Remanufacturer of the Year Awards 2018 Proudly introducing a new set-up of the most prestigious award in the industry, the Remanufacturer of the Year award. Competing in categories, the RotY awards 2018 will honour individuals and companies deemed to have served the remanufacturing sector with distinction. The award ceremony will take place in September 2018 and nominations are open from March 2018.

Do you have what it takes? Check categories and nomination forms at www.rematec.com/roty.

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CERTIFICATION

It could all be so simple The establishment of common reman definitions 18 months ago was a big step forward – but what sort of certification (if any) do remanufacturers really need? And do certificates prove anything?

ack in 2016, six leading reman associations reached common definitions of basic reman terms – an important step in raising awareness of, and confidence in, remanufactured products. But what sort of certification process is most appropriate for remanufacturers to prove their worth? Indeed, should companies even go down this route? Do customers understand its value? Anything that demonstrates the quality and reliability of reman is to be applauded – but is that what certification of processes, for example, really does? Below, Peter Bartel (pictured) offers a personal view on the value of industry certification...and considers how simple the world is for a German engineer.

By definition, we know that remanufacturing is an industrial process. This basic understanding is well accepted in our industry community and among our customers. In our industry it is state of the art to have an implemented quality system supporting the management to run the enterprise. And it makes sense that, with a third party certification, the management gets external review on where the company stands in the development process of its management systems. It is confusing to see that some companies use the result of such third party reviews for marketing purposes - and even better, to communicate that being a certified, structured company would be evidence that it is remanufacturing quality products. This kind of communication is misleading the customer and proves that the respective communication manager is new in the business. Even more confusing is the fact, that nowadays the management of a remanufacturing company can purchase a certification: • proving that what he is doing

SECOND LIFE INC

Reman Achievement

M.J. Rebelle-Revive

10.04.2018

is remanufacturing (BSI PAS 3100:2014) • that even when it is only a tested used part he can name it remanufactured - and if it is remanufactured he is allowed to name it rebuilt, refurbished or repaired (RIC001.1-2016) • that if he is member of a specific remanufacturing association and has implemented a basic quality management system like ISO9001 he can brand his product to be ‘manufactured again’

This remanufactured part is given the same warranty as a new part and it clearly identifies the part as a remanufactured part and states the name of the proud remanufacturer. It could be so simple.

To pay for a certification to get the evidence that they are already certified what? For me as a German engineer this is strange. I would propose not to confuse our customers but to stick to a simple commitment: As remanufacturers we are proud to provide a quality product, restored from an existing part (core), using standardised industrial processes in line with specific technical specifications.

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ReMaTecNews

INNOVATION

This is how we’re going to elevate remanufacturing New processes: thermal plasma spray

After a long career in reman, Fernand Weiland - creator of APRA Europe and co-founder of ReMaTec – believes that technical innovations will help take the industry to the next level. Here he shares his views eman products are in the aftermarket in permanent competition - mainly - with new products. I suggest there are three levels of penetration or market share. The size of the pie here is not a reflection of the size of the market, it is the proportion of reman within the aftermarket for a given product line. Level one is when reman has reached a market share of around 25% and is accepted by the market as an alternative to new. Level two sees penetration reaching 50% - an important level, but to increase that share requires high innovation and further high investments. Level three is 75% penetration of reman products in the market which means making further gains will now become very challenging. At this stage new units, copied new units, basic repairs and used units account for approximately 6% each. It is difficult to envisage that these alternatives will disappear from the market – but reman may disrupt them.

Elevating reman Many organisations, research institutes and consulting firms predict that remanufacturing will double or more in size over the next ten years or so. I do not

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“My view is that innovation is the most important driver of remanufacturing, and technical innovation is an important element of that” have a problem with that, but my question is - how? I do not pretend to have the only answer but to elevate and grow reman, here are some of the things that are needed. • Improving market conditions and acceptance Price, product quality and customer acceptance are key drivers.

engaging politicians, but more associations should join forces. • Actively embracing the circular economy Remanufacturers must understand and benefit from this growing movement. • Highly efficient return logistics Reman customers are always struggling with return of old units – and it is a burden that does not exist for sellers of new units. Creating the most efficient system is a minimum requirement for driving reman to higher levels. • Intelligent reverse engineering With no proper engineering there is no reman.

Innovation is the key • Stimulating synergies between reman sectors Nobody has looked in depth at this so far. How can automotive, IT or healthcare benefit from aerospace - for example, for safety parameters? How can industrial reman, such as wind generators, benefit from automotive reman? Can consumer IT learn from automotive return logistics? • Greater political support CLEPA, APRA, FIRM, ERN and ERC are all

All these criteria are important - but my view is that innovation is the most important driver of remanufacturing, and technical innovation is an important element of that. If automotive reman has reached a high level and has displaced the sales of new units, it is because of an innovative concept which was driven by independent remanufacturers and many, but not all, OE companies. It was not done with the support of politicians or other non-market forces.

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INNOVATION

The most important technical innovative criteria have been, and still are: • Recovering a maximum of old material (to improve the balance of resources) • Upgrading and quality management (to compete with new units) • Efficient and productive reman processes (to optimise production costs) • Broadening the product base (to make reman bigger) There are already many innovative examples in projects which are in line with the objective to elevate reman – and many others are showing remanufacturers that innovation is rewarding and beneficial to the whole industry.

Thermal plasma spray When it comes to improving recovery or reclaiming rates, automotive combustion engine technology is moving to more compact and lighter engine blocks which

are increasingly difficult to reclaim. This is defeating the objective of reman. Due to the limited amount of material available in the cylinders - and between the cylinders - the capability to reuse or remanufacture these blocks with traditional techniques such as boring oversized and using larger pistons or fitting cylinder liners – is likewise limited. To resolve the problem, new processes such as thermal plasma spray have been developed. This consists of machining/ removing a small amount of metal from the cylinder bore and replacing it by spraying molten metal in a rotary motion down the bore. This sounds simple but in actual fact it is a complex process which needs a lot of skill. Autocraft, an independent remanufacturer, has made this high-tech investment and has now substantial experience with the process. It is working for OEMs but can also work for independent remanufacturers – so congratulations to Autocraft. BMW, Daimler and other OEMs also use similar processes.

Greater efficiency To elevate reman to higher levels, one way is to improve and make remanufacturing processes more efficient. Remanufacturing starts with the damage-free return of old units, their accurate identification and proper stocking. In the old days remanufacturers used to receive old units in bulk. This may be still the case for certain products or regions but by and large in western Europe, remanufacturers receive old units back in the original box. Budweg, a leading remanufacturer of calipers, has invested and created a very efficient system. It scans the original sticker of the box, most of the time the pertaining unit is in the box, but to be certain that the unit is the correct one, it displays all the data including a picture on a screen and attaches to the unit a tag with the core stocking bin. Its high stocking shelves move up and down like an elevator or pater noster. This stocking system is ideal for

Lithium batteries The latest automotive product for remanufacturing is lithium batteries, which are very attractive because of their extremely high value, writes Fernand Weiland. All OEMs are concerned about how long their batteries will deliver the original performance and what to do if they do not. The only solution is to reman the batteries – these are not only made of cells but also of controllers, ventilators, relays, cables, connectors and so on, which can fail and can be replaced. The biggest challenge and most

expensive and complex process is the individual replacement of cells instead of replacing all the cells with new ones. This is a challenge I believe the manufacturers have not yet resolved but I am confident that they will find a solution. The batteries pictured are from a European Unionsponsored project run by the RWTH University of Aachen in Germany, which is indirectly involved in the manufacture of thousands of StreetScooter delivery vans (above) for Deutsche Post DHL Group.

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ReMaTecNews

➤

INNOVATION

➤ calipers, giving fast access and high compactness.

Human-robot collaboration A key step in remanufacturing is the disassembling of the old units. In most companies, this is loud, dirty, hard work – not something which many workers would like to do. Whatever we might think about robots in reman, it will be difficult to argue against making this area more worker-friendly. To robotise the assembling of new units is relatively easy - but to robotise disassembling is a tough job. That is the reason why many have either given it up – or not touched on it at all. We are grateful that we have universities which have taken up the challenge. The UK’s University of Birmingham, for instance, is working with Caterpillar and Meritor to dismantle water pumps used in combustion engines. The project started last year and I believe it will take a few years to arrive at final conclusions and results. We remanufacturers are lucky to have a second academic institution researching the disassembly of products by human-robot collaboration. This one is financed by the European Union and conducted by Professor Wolfgang Gerke of the Trier University of Applied Sciences in Germany, in conjunction with SEW Eurodrive, a German manufacturer of electrical gear motors (see Brave New World, p23). Until recently robots were heavy, strong and not flexible – but these days they are becoming lighter, more forgiving and more sensitive. In other words, they are more suited for disassembling smaller products like automotive components. Professor Gerke told me that the use of robot-based assistants is a compromise between automation and manual labour. One advantage is that only human beings have the ability to identify and handle unexpected situations like parts being damaged or manipulated – and can adapt the process accordingly. The robot, meanwhile, can provide assistance with power and endurance over the complete disassembly process and thereby improve the ergonomics of the workplace.

Wind turbines Looking at other matters: for broadening the product base of remanufacturing, wind turbines are a classic example, writes Fernand Weiland. These are heavy duty machines which sooner or later need to be overhauled. The main components are the electrical generator,

gearbox, brake, yaw motor and electric/electronic controller. Operating 24/7 at high stress levels, they are ideal pieces for remanufacturing. It is an attractive business, but subject to technological changes, i.e. some operators are interested to service others to upgrade their turbines.

Niels Klarenbeek of RAI visits ZF wind turbine plant

otherwise must be replaced by new - but also at redesigning and upgrading units. Take the example of a controller or manipulator of a robot, for which the manufacturer is not supplying repair components. Remanufacturers can do the job – and they have, with processes designed and created by Professor Rolf Steinhilper of Bayreuth University and later implemented, produced and distributed successfully by Robotif, a German company which remanufactures robots.

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This is, for me, a perfect example demonstrating the key competencies of a remanufacturer: • The capability to restore/ reman a unit when the original manufacturer has refused to supply parts to repair it • Analysing the defects which led to the failure of the unit and redesigning it to upgrade and make it better • Producing the repair components which the original manufacturer does not supply • Using 3D printing for rapid prototyping or making components • Supplying an ‘equal to new’ unit, at a very competitive price, while saving natural resources and improving performance Elevating reman is going to require technical innovation – and remanufacturers are already rising to the challenge.

Key competencies When it comes to reman innovation, we are now looking not only at higher recovery rates - in other words recuperating or rescuing units which

The cores, or old units, will either be remanufactured and reinstalled or remanufactured but then sold as secondhand machines. This is a special business model and ReMaTec 2019 will include a conference on wind turbines where reman professionals can learn more.

Autocraft: high-tech investment

This is an edited version of a presentation given at the opening of Alec’s new facility in Munich, Germany

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ROBOTICS

Brave new world German firm Alec believes it has the world’s first robotised electronics remanufacturing plant. Thijs Jasink tells Adam Hill how a desire for proactivity has driven the company forward

he future is now. The interior of the HQ of reman specialist Alec looks more like the sort of lair that James Bond would find himself in – a hi-tech environment which is some way removed from the traditional idea of what a remanufacturing operation should look like. Alec, based in Germany, is a whollyowned subsidiary of ACT Group which also owns automotive reman specialist ACtronics, and employs around 250 people worldwide - and specialises in reman of electronic mobility components. In March it opened a brand new, 1500 m2 facility

at Eching-München, close to Munich Airport. The firm has automated and robotised its processes by using automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) for bulk remanufacturing.

Flexible processes

“Robotising the process means that errors are minimised: we offer a customised service and can immediately start offering a reman solution”

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“We want to eliminate human error,” says Thijs Jasink (left), Alec’s chief commercial officer. “AGVs do the internal logistics. AGVs allow us to have flexible processes in a quicker way. Our automated robots take the products to the relevant department, where they are diagnosed with extreme precision and remanufactured. Every step in our process is subject to strict quality tests

ReMaTecNews

➤

ROBOTICS

Robotic arm

“The independent aftermarket will not be as it is now – it will change. And it will move quicker than people actually expect” An AGV in action

➤ to ensure that everything proceeds

smoothly and quality is guaranteed at all times. The robot drives around with the product, and knows where it needs to go and where it needs to stop. Cleaning will be done by a robot arm.” When its full remanufacturing operation starts, Alec’s business will employ 20 or so people. Jasink explains how the company was set up – and how it differs from the rest of the group. ACtronics’ clients tend to be garages and dealerships, but Alec’s will be OEMs and Tier 1 companies only – the sort of people who might only want large numbers of a single product remanufactured. “The process at ACtronics is

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Alec’s manufacturing area

good,” he begins. “But it’s based on individual components, and batches didn’t really fit. ACT decided to form Alec – and as soon as we raised the idea we contacted our clients. We were welcomed with open arms. This has taken two years from the initial thought process.”

Strategic partner If customers want to set up a reman operation, they need a full reman plant – “and that’s hard”, points out Jasink. but Alec offers them a way of keeping obsolete components going through their own strategic electronics reman partner. With a minimum batch size of 1,000 units per year, Alec is obviously

not pitching itself at smaller companies – and it makes sense for reman outfits to tie themselves in with OEMs as the independent aftermarket shrinks. Without enough parts to remanufacture, work dries up and it is important for all industries – remanufacturing included – not to become stuck in their ways. “What we do is specific to car needs but I think that all remanufacturers need to get in line and find a relationship with manufacturers or Tier 1 suppliers,” he warns. “If they don’t tie themselves in, they will lose out. The independent aftermarket will not be as it is now – it will change. And it will move quicker than people actually expect.” Standing still, therefore, is not an

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ROBOTICS

Human-robot collaboration, robot-assisted disassembly Robotix Academy is a European Union-funded crossborder research cluster with five universities, institutes and companies, and several industrial strategic partners, commented Professor Wolfgang Gerke at the opening of Alec’s Munich facility. The development of new concepts for the collaboration of humans and robots in remanufacturing disassembly processes is the main task of the Trier University of

Applied Sciences with the environmental campus at Birkenfeld, Germany. Fully automated disassembly lines are - compared to assembly lines - rare. One reason is that disassembling at the end of a product lifetime is much harder to automatise than assembling. At present, disassembly tasks are executed mostly manually. We are investigating a new concept for the disassembly of electric and mechanical

option. “You have to be proactive rather than reactive,” says Jasink. “When we quote to manufacturers, they can see the product costs and we can structure it to fit their needs.” For example, some firms might not require end of line or entry tests, and prices would reflect this. “Robotising the process means that errors are minimised,” he goes on. “We offer a customised service and can immediately start offering a reman solution for them. The process is flexible for clients. It is also fully transparent: a cost-effective, open-price structure.”

Testing equipment

Robotised operation Non-disclosure agreements mean that Jasink cannot say which manufacturers have signed up to Alec, and what products will be remanufactured, but he confirms that Alec’s robotised operation is currently handling reman of transmission control units for ACT itself. Hardware is a mixture of bespoke and off-the-shelf. “Some of the robotics are custom-made for us,” explains Jasink, citing a robot which specialises in the gluing part of the process. He points to the company’s “latest facilities in the field of bonding and laser technology”. In addition, he says Alec’s R&D department is constantly looking ahead for new developments and technologies “so as to be able to add the future generation of products to our remanufacturing process”. He adds: “We’re by far the most advanced electronics remanufacturing company. Stick to what you know: you

parts with collaborative robot assistance systems: this uses a disassembly graph for the product with the automatic generation of a task schedule, describing tasks for human and robot. Human-robot communication is achieved by gestures, speech or haptic methods. In a five-year industrialfinanced research project with SEW Eurodrive, the economical disassembly of a mechatronic gearmotor - with

a weight of about 25 kg - was investigated in detail. The company especially wants to reuse the rotor of the electric motor fitted with high-energy magnets, which consists of rare earth materials. Lightweight assistant robots with specially designed tools, safety-sensors and 3D vision systems were programmed and integrated in a disassembly testbed to demonstrate the collaboration work.

can broaden out from that – but our expertise is electronics: we have more than a decade in electronics reman.” How big could the business be in five or ten years’ time? “It’s a good question,” says Jasink. “We have a unique approach. The company could grow quickly: after five years, if it goes the way we want it to, we will have bigger premises – and more robots. We have competition and they will challenge us, but I don’t focus on them: we have our own goals and targets. I’ve seen the challenges that lie ahead – it keeps you on your toes.” Things will change fast in remanufacturing, he believes. “It will go more quickly than the last decade,” he nods. “That’s my assumption.”

Bonding machine

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ReMaTecNews

TRANSMISSIONS

emanufactured Volvo Car transmission processes have been shown to significantly reduce the impact on the environment, compared with transmissions that are discarded after use and therefore prompt fresh manufacturing activity. The findings, published in a master’s thesis produced by two researchers at Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology, show that a remanufactured transmission leads to a significant reduction of carbon dioxide emissions (36%), compared with a newlymanufactured transmission (‘Volvo reman is really green’, ReMaTecNews February/ March 2018).

Environmental benefit The reduction in emissions also factors in the supply chain, showing a net environmental benefit, even if a transmission is transported from thousands of kilometres away. The academic paper, produced by Pranav Gahane and Mohamad Kaddoura, looked at the reman operations of Volvo

What goes around Swedish company STS has a successful reman operation with Volvo Cars. Tim Maughan finds out about this – and a university study which shows the ecological benefits of the company’s operations

Cars and Swedish reman company Scandinavian Transmission Service (STS), which is based in Stenungsund, north of Gothenburg. It remanufactures 3,500 transmissions for Volvo a year. Ola Stålebo (above), the firm’s CEO, explains that Volvo - which for years has been involved in circular economy practices - has been one of its chief customers, since STS was founded in 1969. Today, more than 50% of its business is with Volvo - the remaining half of business is taken up remanufacturing car and truck transmissions for a list of firms which includes Ford, Scania and Kia. “So, everything with a gear,” says Stålebo. “Gearboxes, planetary gear for Scania, automatic transmissions for Volvo, and we do manual transmissions for several smaller customers.”

Stripped down Ann-Sofi Pettersson, STS team leader

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All told, STS remanufactures 5,000 transmissions a year. It takes around seven hours to complete a job on a

transmission, explains Stålebo. The assemblies are stripped down - a transmission is typically made up of some 500 parts, he says - and individual components are then scrutinised. “You wash the parts, of course, so it is not so different from other remanufacturing, but you also throw away single use parts like gaskets and bearings. We do the washing and inspection of the parts, and then change the parts that need to be updated; we also update the transmissions to the latest specifications, and of course the broken transmission parts are replaced. Then the transmission is assembled again and tested.” Stålebo, who has worked at the firm for a decade, points out that a transmission dealt with by STS is actually superior to the original product. “The quality can be better, because we do updates. If it was manufactured ten years ago, a quality update is made, even though the actual part is not broken. This takes away the potential for failure later in the life cycle. The

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TRANSMISSIONS

“If it was manufactured ten years ago, a quality update is made, even though the actual part is not broken: this takes away the potential for failure later in the life cycle” Ola Stålebo, CEO, STS

quality of the transmission is better after we remanufacture it than it was when originally manufactured.”

Wear and tear Asked what the typical faults or wear and tear damage are with the preremanufactured transmissions, Stålebo replies: “They are very different because we receive transmissions from all over the world, and it’s different dependent on which environment they have been operating in. We have some problems with overheating in hot countries, like in the Middle East, but you can have the same problems with transmissions with overheating in places like Switzerland, where there are a lot of mountains.” And how many times can a product be remanufactured, in general? “There is this big discussion going on in the industry. My personal opinion is that it can be remanufactured again, from a technical point of view.” That said, he admits that at STS many parts are discarded and replaced, even though this is not “always necessary”. In Gahane and Kaddoura’s thesis, entitled Remanufacturing in circular economy: A gearbox example, a life cycle assessment (LCA) of 30 components in a remanufactured and a newly produced transmission was performed. The aim was to establish an overall view of the total environmental impact of the extraction of raw materials, manufacturing processes, use, delivery to the remanufacturing facility and energy consumption. The study included STS, Volvo, and Mistra REES (ResourceEfficient and Effective Solutions) - the latter is a four-year programme run by a consortium of Swedish universities, and private companies.

calculated by the Volvo/STS process is largely driven by the fact that the reman process identifies, with pinpoint accuracy, exactly which components are needed - and the new components, such as bearings and software, are inevitably more efficient than the old, both in terms of the actual product, but also in the actual reman engineering process. “One of the production processes uses raw materials such as steel and aluminium - so they [the researchers, Gahane and Kaddoura] made some kind of calculations about what they expect to be used, when doing a new part for a transmission,” Stålebo states. The study also found that even if a transmission is brought to the STS facility from a customer 14,000km away, an efficient reman overhaul still leads to a net reduction in CO2 emissions.

Reman development As technology and the remanufacturing business continue to progress, ReMaTecNews asks the STS boss how he

Ongoing discussion “We have had an ongoing discussion with Chalmers for quite a time, but actually the contact this time came via Volvo. Their [car division] remanufacturing manager Gunnar Magnusson thought that we are a good example for this study, and of course we are located in Sweden,” says Stålebo. The 36% reduction of emissions Email your comments and stories to editorial@rematecnews.com

thinks the reman business will develop. There is no doubt, he states, that the image of reman has greatly improved. He says: “We have a very good view of the future and we think that the business potential is very large, not only with Volvo, but with the OE manufacturers in general. Also, what I like very much is that the academic world is interested in remanufacturing. STS has been doing it for 50 years, but when it started up it was done for cost reasons. It was not a business they were proud of, but I can see now, after ten years in the business, that remanufacturing is something you are proud of. Some of the things you did were to reduce warranty costs, and remanufacturing was something that you didn’t speak too much about. Now, it is something that the OEs are actually pushing out there and promoting. We have a good remanufacturing programme, so we think it is also very good that the academic world is showing that it is actually good for the environment as well - not just something that the manufacturers say.”

ABOVE: Joakim Björnankar, STS technician LEFT: (From left) Gunnar Magnusson, reman manager Volvo Cars, Mohamad Kaddoura, student at Chalmers, Pranav Gahane, student at Chalmers, Linda Alexandersson, project engineer, STS and Ola Stålebo, CEO, STS

ReMaTecNews

APRA Europe creating more value for members Updating, refreshing and optimising the association’s appeal to members is top of the agenda for chairman Daniel Koehler – and providing maximum satisfaction is the task in hand

Value proposition

“Since I became APRA Europe chairman in mid-2017, I started several main activities and projects to further grow APRA Europe,” says Dr Daniel Koehler, chairman of APRA Europe. “Some of the results we might already recognise - as with our improved back office run by Michael Haumann - and about some we will hear and report in the future. One of the main activities is to update, refresh and optimise the APRA Europe value proposition. Our members are our customers and therefore it is our task to achieve maximum satisfaction by providing the right services. APRA Europe just recently has undertaken efforts to take seriously feedback from its members in order to further improve services and recognition.”

However, in this edition of ReMaTecNews we are delighted to already give you a glimpse of this updated value proposition. It comprises three major themes:

Important questions As a member-oriented organisation, APRA Europe is constantly questioning itself by asking things like: Where do we stand today? Where are we headed? Which are our core activities? Which benefits do we offer to our members?

“APRA does things for SMEs which one single company can never afford – especially when it comes to lobbying and creating public awareness” Daniel Koehler

What is the actual payback of an APRA membership? At the same time, the remanufacturing business environment changes, leaders change and – with them – their expectations of an industry organisation which represents their interests. In recent months, APRA Europe has collected many thoughts, doubts and wishes of members as well as input from its own board. Most of the board directors run remanufacturing businesses themselves

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and know which support they require and expect. As a result of this process, APRA Europe has now come up with an updated, more centred and clear value proposition to its members. The full value proposition will be presented and discussed by Koehler during the upcoming APRA European Symposium 2018 in Budapest, Hungary (see www. apra.org/2018Symposium for more information).

1. APRA Europe promotes and defends the remanufacturing industry (e.g. communicates benefits of remanufactured products; protects remanufacturers from misleading public information; shapes a predictable business environment) 2. APRA Europe provides guidance and support (e.g. informs on legal aspects; provides advice; finds experts; assesses latest technologies) 3. APRA Europe keeps the remanufacturing network together (e.g. organises branch events; provides a communication platform; connects remanufacturing people) Moreover, Koehler has often been asked, especially by smaller reman enterprises, what would be their return for spending annual membership dues? In this case, he keeps saying: “APRA does things for SMEs which one single company can never afford” – especially when it comes to lobbying and creating public awareness. Because 90% of APRA Europe’s members are SME companies, their benefits will especially be highlighted in the context of the renewed value proposition. During the symposium, members and other visitors may contribute to a survey about what they think of, and expect from, APRA Europe. It is a unique opportunity to bring in your own ideas and to help shape the organisation to your own, maximum benefit. Of course, the full value proposition will be published soon after the event.

Email your comments and stories to editorial@rematecnews.com

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DIARY

April 2018 03.Apr - 05.Apr

KIAE – KAZAKHSTAN INTERNATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE EXPO Astana, Kazakhstan 5.Apr - 8.Apr

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MOTOR SHOW

August 2018 08.Aug - 10.Aug

NACE AUTOMECHANIKA Atlanta, USA

TYREXPO AFRICA

18.Apr - 20.Apr

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AUTOMECHANIKA HO CHI MINH CITY

INTERNATIONAL BIG R SHOW The Big R Show is switching from Las Vegas and will co-locate with NACE Automechanika for the first time. Atlanta, USA

AGRITECHNICA ASIA The first spin-off event from the world’s largest trade fair for agricultural machinery and equipment. Bangkok, Thailand 29.Aug - 09.Sep

MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL AUTOMOBILE SALON Moscow, Russia

September 2018 May 2018 11.Sep - 15.Sep

AUTOMECHANIKA DUBAI Dubai, UAE

AUTOMECHANIKA

23.May - 26.May

SIA-AUTOTECHSERVICE

Frankfurt, Germany 19.Sep - 27.Sep

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October 2018 June 2018 23.Oct - 25.Oct 20.Jun - 23.Jun

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São Paulo, Brazil

June 2019 AUTOMECHANIKA BUENOS AIRES Buenos Aires, Argentina 13.Nov - 15.Nov

METSTRADE The world’s largest exhibition of equipment, materials and systems for the international marine leisure industry. Amsterdam, Netherlands 23.Nov - 26.Nov

23.Jun - 25.Jun

ISTANBUL COMVEX

REMATEC 2019

The sixth expo for commercial vehicles, buses and components. Istanbul, Turkey

The largest remanufacturing event in the world, bringing the whole supply chain of reman together. Amsterdam, Netherlands

26.Nov - 09. Dec 12.Sep

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06.Nov - 18.Nov

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MOBILATINA 08.May - 10.May

November 2018

7.Nov - 10.Nov

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October 2019 15.Oct - 19.Oct

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November 2019 10.Nov - 16.Nov

AGRITECHNICA Hanover, Germany

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Reman is the solution for environmental protection Let’s do our work and promote us and our industry any time and any place. Remanufacturing is a still-hidden industry – but one that is highly resource-efficient, suggests Volker Schittenhelm It is matter of fact, that we all need diesel in order to fulfill the set CO2 limits – full stop. Particulate pollution is, without doubt, one of the public health problems to be solved. And the diesel engine contributes to that as well as other industrial technologies – no objections. But aren’t the politicians throwing out the baby with the bath water in demonising the diesel engine and condemning it from the cities? Okay, the particulate pollution would certainly be reduced in the cities, so one problem solved – at least, locally solved. And those politicians and car manufacturers who have initiated offers to end users of scrapping premium, to get rid of their Euro 4 diesel cars to buy cars with alternative technologies (cars driven by gas engines) as a solution for particulate reduction – are they really talking about environmental protection? A clear ‘no!’

Energy input Those who believe they are have understood nothing, are not at thinking in perspective and are acting against our all futures. Do you know that the returned old cars must be scrapped – really scrapped? They are not allowed to be sold, disassembled and sold in parts to x, y or z? The argument is that newer cars have much lower emissions than the former ones. But imagine the energy – and thus pollution – of manufacturing the now-returned car and add that to the energy input to produce the new one? An eco-audit would reveal that in total the new bought car would never compensate in its life the CO2 footprint caused by manufacturing of both the returned car plus the new car. Scrapping is the environmental worst-case-scenario. And that is seen only by us technicians and

shredding and feeding back materials into a process of manufacturing new products, if there is a much more cost- and resource-efficient process – which leads an engine to a second lifecycle? The environmental benefits have been quantified in a study from VMI, the German association of engine remanufacturers (see ReMaTecNews February/March 2018).

No compromise

“Buying a remanufactured engine is not at all a compromise, but good for your budget and for the environment” market representatives. Our politicians and all the end users, pocketing the scrapping premium, are supporting the car manufacturing industry at the expense of our all environment – thank you for that.

FIRM leads by example “Reman is the solution for environmental protection! Consider engine reman first!” That is FIRM’s message to the public, to politicians, political parties and all organisations and associations talking about ‘environmental protection’ and ‘resource efficiency’. Waste management and recycling of material (see also Germany’s lifecycle resource management legislation) is without question a contribution to reducing pollution and CO2 emissions. But why invest energy and capacity in sorting,

Email your comments and stories to editorial@rematecnews.com

And please take into consideration that buying a remanufactured engine is not at all a compromise, but good for your budget and for the environment. PR slogans of industry participants (OEM as well as IAM) even indicate that reman engines are as good as new - or even better. Opinion polls on the environment reveal the public’s general attitude: environmental protection, yes - but not at my own expense! So, buying and using remanufactured engines is cost-saving and protects the environment – what do you want more? And the engine reman industry moves on: definitions and quality standards from higherranking associations and independent guideline-establishing organisations have been published or will be published in the future. That will lead to high transparency - and thus acceptance and confidence - on the customer’s side. Nationwide quality labels and certification processes (see France and Turkey) will certainly also contribute to knowledge, confidence and acceptance of a still-hidden industry, that is resourceefficient. Let’s do our work and promote us and our industry any time and any place. We need reman quotas! For more information, look at: www.firm-org.eu

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