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For centuries mankind has attempted to exploit the resources available to it through the reuse of objects and artifacts. However, as wealth of modern man has grown, the financial necessity to utilize the lifetime of these objects has dramatically declined, especially in developed countries with high focus on manufacturing. The demand for new products also placed undue pressure on the world’s resources, creating an ethical imperative to conserve and reuse. Remanufacturing is the process of bringing used products to "like-new" functional state with an equivalent quality assurance. As this activity provides profitability whilst reducing land-filling and usage of virgin material, it is a financially viable as well as a sustainable business concept.
One of the key issues deterring the uptake of remanufacturing is the information gap which is created when products leave the OEM. The information gap is the result of the lack of data on product usage and its lifecycle. In general, the product user possesses much greater knowledge regarding a product as he has used it, repaired it, and replaced components. This, in turn, results in the fact that the input to the remanufacturing process is of unknown quality. The lack of reliable information on product usage and lifecycle leads to missed opportunities with respect to increased economic or environmental impact.
The goal of PREMANUS is to overcome the asymmetric distribution of information in the End-of-Life (EoL) recovery of products, with a special emphasis on remanufacturing. To achieve this goal, PREMANUS will provide an on demand middleware which combines product information and product services within one service oriented architecture. In addition to closing the information gap, the PREMANUS middleware would compute EoL-specific KPIs based on product usage data and make recommendations to its users regarding the viability (in terms of profitability, scope, and time) of remanufacturing a product. |
