Submitted by Sarah Rogers on Fri, 10/30/2020
When you think about industrial robotics or automation you might imagine a large factory filled with robotic arms assembling automobiles or automated machinery building up electronics. What you might not immediately think of is a robot performing a one-off task that changes with every work-piece presented to it – but that is something we do, and do well, with our Scan-N-Plan technology, which you can check out here:
One application of high-mix, low-volume (HMLV) work is remanufacturing. SwRI has just joined the Remanufacturing Industries Council. We believe this membership will allow us additional insights into the needs of companies involved in remanufacturing and helping those companies reach their goals.
Remanufacturing Makes Old Products “Like New”
Remanufacturing is the act of taking a product that is used, sometimes nonfunctional, and returning that product, or some portion of the product, to a “like new” condition. These products typically hold some level of warranty for their quality and performance. Remanufacturing is not isolated to one type of industry either. Some of the industries that remanufacture are aerospace, heavy industry, automotive, medical equipment, furniture, office supplies, consumer electronics, and food service equipment. Remanufacturing is not only beneficial for the consumer who can buy “like new” products at greatly reduced prices, but it is also beneficial because it extends the life of expensive assets, helps reduce the waste footprint for those products, reduces the need for new raw materials, and reduces the energy needed compared to producing products from scratch. We look forward to building a relationship with the Remanufacturing Industries Council and its members and participating in their Research & Development committee.