An evaluation of order release strategies in a remanufacturing environment

Remanufacturing is a process by which worn-out products are restored to like new condition. Remanufacturing operations are characterized by probabilistic recovery rates of parts from the cores, and stochastic routings and lead times, as well as stochastic processing times. These factors serve to complicate planning and control functions for firms in remanufacturing, an environment with a greater degree of variability than a traditional manufacturing environment. There is no literature to assist in deciding on scheduling/order release strategies in a remanufacturing environment. In this article various order release strategies are evaluated in conjunction with scheduling rules in a remanufacturing environment, using a simulation model of a Naval aviation depot's engine components work shops. The results indicate that a simple level order release strategy in conjunction with a due date based scheduling rule provides an efficient means of releasing and scheduling work in this environment.