A classification of remanufacturing networks in Europe and their influence on new entrants

In industrialized and emerging countries, remanufacturing is considered as a promising strategy to preserve growth and employment in a dematerialized economy. Successful remanufacturing is, regardless, limited to specific industrial sectors such as the automotive parts aftermarket. Transforming political ambitions to concrete implementation in industry cannot be done solely from a legal perspective. Objective of this paper is to enable potential new entrants to learn how the actors in remanufacturing value chains collaborate in networks. Authors led a survey among remanufacturing companies and identified three main network types regarding the degree of control from the Original Equipment Manufacturer over the remanufacturing process. Typical company profiles for every network type according to their specialization are defined. Objects and motives as well as the main challenges for companies which come through dematerialization are qualitative validated and discussed. An overview of future research axis for networking as a tool for expanding remanufacturing activities serves as a conclusion.