Remanufacturing Short Courses

Golisano Institute for Sustainability at Rochester Institute of Technology

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Morning Session: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm:

Determining the Environmental Benefits of Remanufacturing

The remanufacturing business is driven by the economic benefits associated with keeping high value products in service at like-new performance. In many cases, remanufacturing may be the only way to economically maintain high value assets in service, due to inability to source new service parts.

Continued global growth is putting pressure on the availability of many industrial materials, as well as impacting the global environment.  The new model of the circular economy is developing as a concept for more sustainable growth, and remanufacturing is a key component. By keeping products in service at a high level of performance, rather than replacing them with new, the same level of market demand can be met with lower material consumption and lower environmental impact.

A recent study supported by the United Nations Environment Programme’s International Resource Panel (UNEP IRP) demonstrated 80-99% reduction in material consumption, and 57-87% reduction in fabrication energy, comparing remanufactured products to new.

This workshop will explain the methodologies that are used to assess the environmental benefits of remanufacturing, and provide case study examples that illustrate the analysis process.  This will make you better able to describe the environmental benefits of your remanufactured products.

Attendees will learn:

  • What did the UNEP-IRP report say about the global benefits of remanufacturing?
  • Basics of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) process that provides a structure for this analysis
  • What factors affect the material, energy, and greenhouse gas emissions for remanufactured products versus new?
  • Where does the data come from to do this type of analysis
  • What do current public studies say about the environmental benefits of remanufacturing
  • What additional information is needed to provide stronger case studies
  • How can I get started on analyzing my own product

SPEAKERS:

Dr. Michael Thurston, Dr. Jennifer Russell, Dr. Nabil Nasr

Afternoon Session: 1:30 pm – 5:00 pm:

Improving the Remanufacturing Bottom Line with Additive Manufacturing

Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies have long been used in remanufacturing, but with the explosion of 3D printing technologies, new AM processes are rapidly hitting the market. This course will cover how to select the optimum AM process for your Reman application, and show why adoption of new AM technologies is being propelled by positive economic returns to the bottom-line.

AM encompasses multiple technologies that build up 3-D objects by adding individual layers of material. Utilization of AM enables recovery of cores that have historically been scrapped, which in turn maintains the number of available cores in circulation.  AM processes range from welding and twin wire-arc to cold spray and 3-D printing; the wide array of options can make it challenging to select the optimum AM process for a particular Reman application.

In this course, the various AM processes available will be reviewed to highlight their technical characteristics, and economic factors including capital, processing, and labor costs. The course will discuss currently used salvage processes (such as thermal spray and cold spray) and next-generation 3D Printing technologies (e.g., liquid metal and DMLM) and how they can be cost effectively used in remanufacturing.  Finally, methods for selecting appropriate and economically viable additive repair processes will be discussed and demonstrated through interactive examples.

As part of the course, an example component will be selected to demonstrate how to determine economically viable AM options. Participants are encouraged to send examples of components before the course for consideration as in-class case studies.  Information should include photographs of the component with a description of the feature(s) to be restored or fabricated through advanced AM.  Follow-up questions will be posed to the submitter if the component is selected.  Please send examples to Mark.Walluk@RIT.edu

Attendees will learn:

  • How to select the cores which are candidates for AM
  • The variety of AM processes available for salvaging cores
  • How to select the proper AM process for salvaging cores based on cost-benefit analysis
  • Details about new 3D printing technologies, such as liquid metal 3D Printing, which can be used in salvage or for part replacement

Speakers:

Dr Michael Haselkorn and Mark Walluk