A study on remanufacturing businesses in Japan

We present the current state and perspective of reuse businesses in Japan. We classify reuse businesses into two categories: ldquodesign-oriented reuserdquo and ldquocirculation-oriented reuserdquo. The design-oriented reuse is based on design for environment (DfE) of products and in most cases, maker companies undertake it. The circulation-oriented reuse is such as secondhand shops, and non-maker companies usually carry out it. In Japan, circulation-oriented reuse businesses grew rapidly in last twenty years. Formerly, many studies on reuse and remanufacturing have focused on design-oriented reuses. The crucial issues on businesses in general are ldquomarginrdquo and ldquovolumerdquo. The design-oriented reuses have focused more on ldquomarginrdquo by trying to reduce the cost of disassembling and remanufacturing. On the contrary, most of circulation-oriented reuse companies have grown by achieving the ldquovolumerdquo. We raise a question how they achieve the ldquovolumerdquo. In the research, we interviewed and surveyed circulation-oriented reuse companies in Japan. We describe how the companies achieved the volume and discuss the implications and the perspectives.