Understanding Resulting Interdependencies Within Production Planning And Control In Hybrid Manufacturing/Remanufacturing Systems

Abstract

In recent years, the circular economy has attracted attention from manufacturing companies for its potential to achieve both regulatory and market-driven sustainability objectives. A variety of circular strategies is available for practical implementation. The challenge that arises from implementing circular strategies is the necessity to adapt existing material flows, which requires corresponding modifications to planning processes. In particular, when existing resources, such as available labour, machines or production facilities, are utilised for both the manufacturing process of new products and remanufacturing, traditional approaches to production planning and control (PPC) become increasingly inadequate. A framework that enables companies to align their PPC configuration with their logistical performance targets while utilising circular strategies does not yet exist in the literature. Therefore, this article focuses on the resulting changes within the interdependencies in the context of PPC, with a detailed examination of remanufacturing. A PPC framework, the Hanoverian Supply Chain Model, is used and expanded for this purpose. This article aims to derive the new interdependencies between the internal supply chain and PPC main tasks and embed the findings in the existing framework. This results in an extension of the PPC framework, which acts as a starting point for further systematic investigations in this research area.