What happens to industrial products at the end of their life cycle? Too often, valuable materials and components are discarded rather than reused. The reManuFactory project aims to change that by making remanufacturing a practical, profitable, and sustainable option for the Danish industry.
Remanufacturing is the process of taking back used products, dismantling them, assessing their components, and creating either the same or new products. It reduces the need for virgin materials, cuts CO₂ emissions, and keeps valuable resources in the economy.
DTU Engineering Technology’s role
At DTU Engineering Technology, we are leading the demonstrator work package, which is all about bridging the collaboration between research and the industry. Our task is to work directly with companies to test how the processes and technologies developed in the lab can be applied in real production environments.
Through collaboration with committed industry partners, we will:
- Test new processes for cleaning, disassembly, component inspection, (re)assembly, and material transformation.
- Explore new methods for assessing whether parts from an end-of-life product can be reused, and for transforming worn components into new ones.
- Guide companies through the steps needed to raise their technology readiness level – moving from early concepts to proven, scalable solutions.
- Test practical take-back systems to help companies retrieve products after use.
- Support the sustainability screening of current and future states, when new solutions are applied, to ensure sound and sustainable remanufacturing systems
The work will focus on plastics, metals, and electronics, covering both consumer products (e.g. phones, packaging) and industrial equipment (e.g. metal–electronic components).
Remanufacturing supports extended producer responsibility policies, where companies are accountable for what happens to their products at the end-of-life. By reusing existing materials, we avoid extracting new raw resources and help industry shift towards a circular economy.
But the project is about more than technical feasibility. We will also help companies explore business models that make remanufacturing commercially viable—without jeopardising the market for new products. Our goal is to make remanufacturing a concrete, competitive option for Danish companies, large and small.
“We are not only testing technologies,” says Assistant Professor Rodrigo Salvador from DTU Engineering Technology. “We are helping companies think about business models, technology readiness, and how to translate circular strategies into everyday practice.”
ABOUT reManuFactory
Led by: DTU Construct, with contributions from five DTU departments, including DTU Engineering Technology.
DTU Engineering Technology’s role: Lead the demonstrator work package, bridge lab-developed technologies with real-world industrial applications.
Sectors: Electronics, mechanical and electromechanical products, plastics/composites, and metal products/components.
Duration: Until 2028.
Total budget: DKK 37 million (part of Industriens Fond’s Cirkulær Produktion initiative with a total budget of DKK 150 million).
Goal: Assist up to 150 companies in testing, implementing, and scaling remanufacturing solutions.
Contact at DTU Engineering Technology: Assistant Professor Rodrigo Salvador, Production, Transportation and Planning
More info: New National Centre to Fill Crucial Gap in Denmark’s Remanufacturing Efforts