Report on the remanufacturing of refrigerated display cabinets

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©Centre for Remanufacturing & Reuse 2009 2 Benefits of remanufacturing This section describes general remanufacturing benefits prevalent in all industry sectors and quantifies the waste reduction and carbon benefit of remanufacturing a single „average‟ RDC. 2.1 Introduction and general benefits There have been several studies showing both the environmental and business benefits of remanufacturing. 4 , 5 In addition to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and material use delivered by remanufacturing, and the cost benefits realised by both remanufacturer and purchaser, there are several less measureable benefits from remanufacturing. These include: Enhanced skills and employment Anecdotally, the skills level and pay of the staff involved in remanufacturing are higher than counterparts who are involved in recycling. The main reason for this is that the operations within a remanufacturing factory are more complex and the remanufactured product is significantly more valuable than equivalent recycled material. A higher workforce skills rate has positive implications for the wider economy. A more skilled workforce is required to compete with our main international rivals: the higher skills set and higher pay also result in a net increase in gross value-added per employee, which is a key indicator of economic success. Based on this argument, policy makers should (all other variables being equal) be encouraging remanufacturing over recycling. 4 Remanufacturing in the UK, 2004, Oakdene Hollins Ltd 5 See also for example www.remanufacturing.org.uk Page 14 of 38
©Centre for Remanufacturing & Reuse 2009 Enriched customer relations There are opportunities for remanufacturers to develop closer ties with customers. Where service-type agreements are developed, or where an organisation remanufactures products to order, there is greater contact between client and provider. Such activities lead to the development of good business relationships, which can lead to further business or the resolution of other areas of business where there have been problems. Improved product failure knowledge A key problem for OEMs is in obtaining statistical data on modes of failure of their products outside of warranty. Such data could be used to improve the reliability of their product. It will also highlight less critical failures such as unusual wear patterns or long-term unexpected behaviour of the product. Third party remanufacturers can use this to their advantage to design out any defects present in the original product, which can then be used as a selling point. 2.2 RDC energy usage With the open-fronted design currently in favour, RDCs require significant amounts of energy to chill products. In general, they will operate 24 hours a day over a period of 5 to 8 years. We estimate that the usage phase accounts for approximately 95% of the total carbon emissions produced over its lifetime. Accordingly energy efficiency improvements which address the use phase are a priority. For this assessment an „average‟ 12ft RDC with a total display area of approximately 6.5m 2 is used. If the best case scenario is taken (whereby the RDC conforms to the ECA requirements for a Class M1 remote display unit operating between -1°C and 5°C) the RDC will require 74 kWh of electricity per day to chill, or 27,000 kWh per year. Remote RDCs have a life of between 5 and 8 years, therefore over an average 6.5 years‟ lifetime 176,000 kWh of electricity will be consumed, corresponding to about 76 tonnes CO 2 e, which is equivalent to the average annual emission of 25 cars. 2.3 RDC energy improvements Simple modifications can be made to the RDC‟s design in order to reduce energy consumption. Fitting a set of doors can reduce the amount of electricity used for cooling by as much as half. However, doors are often seen as undesirable as they are believed to reduce the purchase of goods, or are impractical where frequent access by customers is required. In these cases protective night blinds may be used to cover the front of the display cabinet when access is not required. Page 15 of 38
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Report on the remanufacturing of refrigerated display cabinets

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