ABSTRACT
Remanufacturing is an industrial process in which worn-out products are restored to like-new condition. In contrast, a repaired product normally retains its identity and only those parts that have failed or are badly worn are replaced or serviced. Integrated planning and control systems help coordinate and schedule the difficult job of having the right part in the right place at the right time to support this industry. As difficult as standard manufacturing is, the remanufacturer has a task that is several orders of magnitude even more difficult. The first step in the remanufacturer’s planning process is to take a product that is no longer usable and based on the past replacement or repair history, have the right components available to return the product to usefulness. This requires very sophisticated planning tools. Not only is there a statistical probability attached to which parts may be replaced, there are also many different routings that the part could take to be put in as-new condition. To further complicate the issue, the planning of materials and capacities in the remanufacturing environment is highly dependent on the quality and availability of the carcass assets from which the process starts.
