In recognition of Global Remanufacturing Day, ZF has confirmed its continued commitment to remanufacturing and the resulting substantial positive impacts to the environment, economy and product lifecycles. Across the globe, ZF has more than 1,800 employees who remanufacture 255 different types of products every day at 25 locations.
“ZF has a longstanding commitment to sustainability, and our focus on remanufacturing is unparalleled in the mobility industry,” said Jeff Stukenborg, reman engineering leader at ZF and chairman of the Remanufacturing Industries Council (RIC). “Protecting the environment is one of ZF’s main corporate objectives; by keeping components and their embodied material in use for longer, significant energy use and emissions to air and water can be avoided.”
Remanufacturing is the controlled, reproducible and sustainable industrial process by which previously used products or parts are returned to as-good or better-than-new condition from both a quality and performance perspective. This process enables products to have multiple lifecycles and offers significant time, material and cost-savings when compared to creating a replacement product completely from scratch.
Additionally, as disruptions continue to challenge nearly all industries, remanufacturing fills a small but increasingly important role in supplying needed parts to help keep supply chains moving.
According to the RIC, other benefits of remanufacturing include the conservation of raw materials, reduced energy usage and less waste. The remanufacturing process also plays a critical part of the global economy in terms of jobs. The council estimates there are nearly a half million global remanufacturing jobs today, employing a wide range of engineers, technicians, scientists, designers and more. Approximately 180,000 of those roles are in the U.S.
ZF has 25 remanufacturing locations worldwide, and in 2020 through the remanufacturing process, the company reduced its global C02 emissions by an estimated 12,444 tons and realized an estimated energy savings of 8740 MWh or 8,740,000 kWh.
“Remanufacturing is an important contributor to the circular economy because it makes it possible for products to have multiple lifecycles, multiple uses,” said Stukenborg. “Through efforts like remanufacturing, ZF is doing everything it can to protect our planet’s valuable resources, environment, and economy for generations to come.”
