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DESIGN Even before they are built new, remanufactured products have to be designed for disassembly. That may mean adding cost up front—another layer of metal, or a bolt fastener vs. a snap. But the payoff will come when the company saves labor and materials costs during a product’s second, third, and fourth life cycles.
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LOGISTICS A company needs to know where its products are in order to take them back. Otherwise, it will spend too much money trying to figure out how to collect them. This is known as the art of “reverse logistics.” One way to do it is by having robust dealer relationships; another is by giving financial incentives to big clients for participating in remanufacturing.
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LOW FASHION You can’t remanufacture fashion. “Reman” is mostly used in heavy industrial applications, where customers care more about performance than looks, rather than the consumer sector, where novelty is a key marketing point. Still, even some high-tech consumer companies such as cell-phone makers use remanufactured goods as warranty replacements.
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