Remanufacturing in the Circular Economy

Chapter 7Global Challenges and Market Transformation in Support of Remanufacturing

Shanshan Yang

Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre, CleanTech Two, Singapore

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Abstract

In an era where demand for finite resources will only continue to rise, the way people produce and consume goods must change; in short, the global community must transition from linear systems of extraction, production, consumption, and disposal to a more circular economy. As an effective closed-loop measure in circular economy, remanufacturing presents immense potential for economic, environmental, and social benefits. However, global uptake of remanufacturing is still hampered by a number of challenges which will be analyzed in this chapter. To address these barriers is simply beyond any single entity’s scope of capability; rather, large scale adoption of remanufacturing in pursuit of a circular economy requires collaboration amongst multiple players across business, research, government, and investor communities. In this chapter, key areas that will catalyse the industry and drive the scale-up of remanufacturing are identified and presented. Successful business cases are also included to showcase accelerated adoption of remanufacturing model.

Keywords: Challenge of remanufacturing, remanufacturing market, circular economy, product service system, reverse supply chain, design for remanufacturing, industry 4.0 and remanufacturing

7.1 Introduction

Traditional linear ...