In today's episode we bring to you an example from South Africa that is --> Barloworld

The idea of remanufacturing seems promising if you are on a quest to find answers through Circular Economy. In case some of you are hearing the term for the first time, remanufacturing forms a significant part of the circular economy. It involves process something like this- Once the component arrives to the facility, it is disassemble it completely and do an inspection on the component. We determine what parts need to be replaced with new and which parts can be refurbished and reused again. Parts then go through a process of cleaning, refurbishment, and then reassembly. After reassembly, the components are tested, painted, and then it’s good-to-go back to the machine like new.

Remanufactured products should not be understood as “used,” “refurbished,” “repaired” or “reused.” It’s as good as brand new product.

If done right, remanufacturing offered economic benefits of reduced costs of goods sold, reduced prices to the customer, supply risk mitigation and stronger relationships in the value chain.

It is fascinating to see how leading Original Equipment Manufacturers around the world have taken to remanufacturing as a way to get started on their journey in a circular economy. But while remanufacturing sounds good in theory, it is challenging to implement it leave alone scale up the operations.

To have strong remanufacturing process, an organisation needs to ensure set reverse logistics processes, along with strong business model that takes care of existing customers during the buy-back process.

That’s where Barloword captured my attention, because they have made this challenging idea possible through a fabulous implementation.

Barloword is a South African industrial conglomerate, with the second-largest Caterpillar equipment remanufacturing plant in the world.

Barloworld developed a 30,000 square meter facility: 20,000 square meters are for the rebuilding of components and the remainder, 10,000, is for warehousing purposes. Isn’t that fascinating.

In addition to new and Cat Certified Used equipment offerings, the Barloword Equipment Cat Rental Store provides innovative off balance sheet facilities. This enables customers to rent Cat machines for periods ranging up to two years, with end-of-contract purchase options made available. So this part of their business makes a seamless blend of remanufacturing along with offering product-as-a-service.

Tune into the episode to learn more;

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Keywords : What is a circular economy? ; Circular Economy Podcast ; Circular Business Models ; Circular Design