Next Generation Tools and Techniques for Remanufacturing

Applications are invited for a fully funded PhD position to work in an exciting inter-disciplinary research team. The project aims to investigate the implementation of new systems and technologies in the process of remanufacturing, with the aim of increasing the reuse of used products and components as part of a sustainable product life cycle.

Remanufacture returns used products to at least original performance specifications and offers guarantees equal to those of newly manufactured equivalents. The move away from the traditional manufacturing product life cycle to one where remanufacture is the norm is so significant that such a change has been referred to as a “third industrial revolution”: a transformation that could enable society to produce products for a fraction of the current energy and carbon costs.

The economic benefits of remanufacture include 20-80% cost savings compared to other materials reclamation options such as recycling. Remanufacture reduces waste disposal costs, processing, specialised labour and the virgin materials used in production. It has clear environmental benefits, including a 50-80% reduction in energy use compared with primary manufacture, and up to 85% of the weight of a remanufactured product can be obtained from used parts, thus reducing processing, waste generation and landfill.

The PhD will work in an inter-disciplinary team, combining business process, environmental study, and experimental technological investigations of existing processes for the development of new technologies and working methods for remanufacturing. Each PhD student will focus on a specific aspect of the research area, relating to their own degree experience (i.e. from business, engineering, environment). However, the inter-disciplinary nature of the research allows the PhD student to gain training and experience in the tools and techniques used in the other disciplines, extending their skill set and experience base.

The PhD supervisor, Dr Ijomah, is Director of the Scottish Institute for Remanufacture (hosted at Strathclyde), and leader of the remanufacturing research group at Strathclyde. The new student will therefore be placed in a research environment with high levels of experience in this area. Finally, there will be many opportunities for all students to travel internationally in order to visit industrial partners, other university groups involved in remanufacture research, and to attend conferences.