Singapore Establishes the First-of-its-Kind Remanufacturing R&D Centre in Asia

Singapore Establishes the First-of-its-Kind Remanufacturing R&D Centre in Asia

PR Newswire

SINGAPORE, May 31, 2012

SINGAPORE, May 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

The Advanced Remanufacturing & Technology Centre will drive value-added
manufacturing activities in Singapore through private-public R&D
collaborations

Singapore today announced the establishment of the Advanced Remanufacturing &
Technology Centre (ARTC), the first centre in Asia to look into research and
development (R&D) to develop technologies for remanufacturing that can be
readily adopted by industry. These technologies will enable companies and
businesses to translate end-of-life products into "good as new" ones for the
market through a sustainable process, contributing to greater cost and
materials savings and, potentially, higher profit margins.

Six industry leaders, namely Boeing, Rolls-Royce plc, Siemens Industry
Software, ABB, FUCHS Lubricants and Carl Zeiss, have signed a Memorandum of
Understanding with the Centre to look into collaborative R&D to bridge
technological gaps in remanufacturing for the aerospace, oil & gas, marine,
energy, automotive and engineering industries. In doing so, ARTC will tap on
A*STAR's Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology's (SIMTech) R&D
expertise in automation, manufacturing systems and processes, as well as the
strong capabilities of local universities such as Nanyang Technological
University, to carry out R&D in production-ready technologies in the areas of
repair and restoration, surface enhancement and product verification.

Eight local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have also joined the Centre to
co-develop technologies along with leading multinational corporations (MNCs).

Said Dr Raj Thampuran, Executive Director of the Science and Engineering
Research Council, A*STAR: "The Advanced Remanufacturing & Technology Centre
will help industries realise remanufacturing's economic and environmental
potential through public-private collaborative R&D. Member companies can
leverage on our spectrum of relevant capabilities, advanced infrastructure and
high quality talent, while at the same time contribute to value-added
manufacturing activities here. The Centre also represents the way in which
high value manufacturing is advancing globally."

The Benefits of Remanufacturing

Remanufacturing is a sustainable process that involves transforming a
recovered part or product through disassembly, cleaning, testing and other
operations into like-new products to be reintroduced to the markets.
Remanufactured products are tested and certified to meet technical and safety
specifications of new products, and are therefore sometimes sold with
warranties comparable to the original. The process is more efficient than
recycling because it conserves not only the raw material content, but also
retains much of the value added during the manufacturing of the product.

Remanufacturing is already commonly applied in the aerospace, marine,
automotive and engineering industries. A report by Global Industry Analysts
(GIA) predicts that the global automotive remanufacturing market is expected
to reach US$104.8 billion by 2015.

SOURCE ResearchSEA