Strategic design of multiple lifecycle products for remanufacturing operations

Based on observations from practice, this study analytically investigates product design philosophies for remanufacturing original equipment manufacturers to determine how the optimal design choice depends on market conditions. Though designing to increase the level of remanufacturability can yield increased profitability by lowering remanufacturing costs, several complicating factors exist. We examine how these market factors—industry clockspeed, the level of competition, and the product’s original market value—interact with characteristics whose values are determined by the choice of design paradigm: time-to-market, manufacturing cost, and remanufacturing cost. A key determinant of the optimal design choice is the number of profitable lifecycles that each design choice provides under specific combinations of values for the market factors.