An investigation on optimizing sustainable remanufacturing in developing countries : a novel application of Lean Six Sigma

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Goni, Abdullahi and Ijomah, Winifred (2025) An investigation on optimizing sustainable remanufacturing in developing countries : a novel application of Lean Six Sigma. In: 7th International conference on remanufacturing (ICoR 2025 ), 2025-04-08 - 2025-04-10, Amsterdam RAI, the Netherland.

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Abstract

Remanufacturing, a process that restores used products to like-new condition with a matching warranty, offers significant environmental, economic, and social benefits. However, traditional remanufacturing faces persistent challenges, including high variability, high logistics cost, lack of standardization, and low consumer trust. These issues are particularly severe in developing countries where lack of infrastructure and policy further hinder remanufacturing's potential. The aim of this research is to investigate the optimization of remanufacturing through the integration and application of Lean Six Sigma tool and techniques, with a focus on addressing the challenges and enhancing sustainability in developing countries. A systematic literature review spanning across 20 years from 2004 to 2024 was conducted, Scopus database was utilized using the keywords; Remanufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, Sustainability, Challenges, and Developing countries. Based on the systematic literature review, this research uncovers lack of studies on Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and remanufacturing, leaving a critical gap in the literature. To address the gap, this study seeks to investigate the application of Lean Six Sigma technique to remanufacturing. The combination of Lean’s focus on waste elimination with Six Sigma’s emphasis on reducing process variability, offers a systematic approach to tackle inefficiencies, thus reduce waste and defects in remanufacturing. The findings from the literature suggest that integrating LSS tools such as DMAIC, Kaizen, and Value Stream Mapping into remanufacturing can significantly mitigate core variability, streamline reverse logistics, enhance process standardization and customer perception. The novel contribution of this paper is demonstrating the potentials of Lean Six Sigma as a transformative tool for a sustainable remanufacturing particularly in developing countries. Keywords: Remanufacturing, Trends, Challenges, Lean, Six Sigma, Sustainability, Developing countries.

ORCID iDs

Goni, Abdullahi and Ijomah, Winifred ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0652-1486;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)