A Conceptual Framework for the Identification of Barriers in Automotive Remanufacturing Industry in Sri Lanka

Automotive remanufacturing provides a sustainable solution for waste generation in the automotive industry. Although the automotive remanufacturing industry is prominently seen in countries such as the UK, USA and China, it is now expanding to other parts of the world including India, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore. Being a country having an automotive industry with significant value addition, Sri Lanka also possesses a high potential for remanufacturing. However, evidence of such industries is hardly seen. Therefore, the aim of the presented research was to develop a conceptual framework to identify barriers and propose solutions in the automotive remanufacturing industry in Sri Lanka. In this pursuit, a comprehensive review of the literature was performed. This was followed by informal interviews with people involved in the automotive remanufacturing businesses. The conceptual framework was then developed based on the challenges in each stage of the remanufacturing process against the three levels of interventions: Educational, regulatory body, and prevailing market conditions. It was revealed from the framework that most of the challenges were linked to the prevailing market conditions. Therefore, this paper provides a basis for encouraging the stakeholders to find suitable strategies in addressing the barriers associated with automotive remanufacturing in Sri Lanka.