Remanufacturing and upcycling of an industrial robot handheld terminal independently from the original equipment manufacturer

Abstract

The aim of the work was to ensure the after-market supply of an industrial robot handheld terminal independently from the original equipment manufacturer. Therefore, a remanufacturing process was developed. Additionally, an upcycling of the unit was realized by fixing the malfunctions of the original handheld terminal. Initially the malfunctions of the original handheld terminal were analyzed. Based on the results of this analysis a requirement specification of a remanufactured handheld terminal was developed. The necessary remanufacturing process consists out of six steps. Following this the original handheld terminal was dismantled and all components were classified. The wearing and defective components had to be reproduced. For this purpose, a redesign was used. For every reproduced part the most economic manufacturing process was chosen. The generated results were used to manufacture a prototype of the upcycled handheld terminal. Also the supply chain for the remanufactured and upcycled handheld terminal was elaborated.