Remanufacturing - A manufacturing paradigm shift for deep decarbonization in a sustainable economy

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Every stage of manufacturing, from raw materials extraction, refinement, and processing to part manufacturing contributes immensely to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A shift toward re-manufacturing, where worn products or component parts are returned to like-new condition, will dramatically reduce anthropogenic GHG emissions caused by material production and distribution, help industries achieve stringent environmental mandates (net zero GHG by 2050), and contribute directly to a circular economy. The proposed project will connect expertise across mechanical and environmental engineering, computer science, supply chain and logistics, and climate change governance and sustainability to drive advances in the technologies needed for part assessment and remanufacturing, and generate data needed to build understanding and predictive models that capture the benefits of a remanufacturing-based decarbonization strategy and how it will impact policy. Specifically, the proposed research includes life assessment methodology for identifying damaged zones of parts at the end of their life, remanufacturing technology (cold spray additive manufacturing) to replace damaged parts, reverse logistics to design the optimum operation for accessing parts at the end of their life cycle and transferring them to local remanufacturers, assessment of GHG savings for one exemplar component, and forecast models that predict savings across different scenarios (e.g., for the automotive industry, we would forecast savings for exemplar components in all new cars manufactured by 2035, and 2050). A Transfer Learning algorithm will be employed to extend proposed methodology to other components. Policy barriers at federal, provincial, and municipal levels will be analyzed and mitigation strategies for sustainable transition to remanufacturing will be developed.The proposed strategy will significantly reduce GHG, provide exceptional economic opportunities for SME, and generate required data for decision makers to propose policies based on remanufacturing.