Key Factors Influencing Building Components’ Remanufacturing Strategy: A Comprehensive Literature Review

Abstract

The adoption of remanufacturing technology is gaining traction, considering sustainability principles and the goal of fostering a resource-efficient society. However, given the unique environment of construction sites and the context of incorporating lean production into remanufacturing, implementing remanufacturing concepts in the construction industry presents significant obstacles. The goal of this article is to provide guidance and recommendations for construction professionals when developing remanufacturing plans, including circumstances, insights, and methodology for implementation. Initially, this study distinguishes the widely used ‘3R’ terminology (reduce, reuse, and recycle) from the concept of remanufacturing applicable to the construction industry. It then investigates the characteristics of the ‘core’ (items to be remanufactured) of construction components, as well as evaluates and restructures key influencing aspects associated with remanufacturing techniques. A careful assessment of the literature and detailed descriptions help to clarify these factors. The findings show that these criteria have a double impact on remanufacturing and that successful remanufacturing techniques necessitate a mix of flexibility, safety, and stability. Finally, a ‘tumbler’ approach was offered for experts in construction component professionals, allowing key influencing factors to play a more inclusive and dependable role in the development of remanufacturing strategies.

1. Introduction

The construction industry is a fundamental pillar of the global economy, accounting for about 13% of global GDP and producing over one-third of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, according to the World Economic Forum’s [1]. Conventional manufacturing of construction materials entails substantial energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions [2]. In response to these pressing challenges, extensive research has been undertaken in construction and energy, construction material management, and innovative building materials [3,4]. Building components (BCs) refer to the combination of building materials with clear functions, such as the structural BC that directly constitutes a building and the BCs that indirectly provide services for construction. Existing research rarely focuses on ‘BCs’.

Remanufacturing is a closed-loop strategy that extends the lifespan of products by restoring or upgrading them at the end of their lifecycle, thereby protecting natural resources and limiting the impact of industry on the environment [5]. Remanufacturing also holds a significant allure for BCs. According to data disclosed by the American Institute of Steel Construction [6], the structural steel utilized within structural framework systems in the United States has reached an impressive 1.1 million tons. Brütting et al. [7] have proven that the load-bearing components of buildings have a high potential for remanufacturing. Talamo et al. [8] affirmed the appropriateness of remanufacturing strategies for various tertiary-level building components (offices, reception facilities, exhibition areas, commercial spaces, and temporary shops). The commonality of these cases is that they often retain high technical and economic performance levels.

Construction has been identified as having great value potential in creating a circular economy [9]. Traditionally, this task has been executed following the ‘3R’ principles of reduce, reuse, and recycle [10]. However, through the 3R method, BC management in the construction industry has not been substantially improved [11] because its essence is still a linear economy. Talamo et al. [8] believed that due to the complexity and diversity of building structures, technological challenges have slowed down the development of remanufacturing in this field. However, all buildings are potential material and product repositories that can be deconstructed into BCs to maximize value retention, and mixing with new buildings can reduce costs given their volume and value ratio. All of these will create value, promote innovation, and attract investment. Remanufacturing must be achieved in construction to change the original linear (3R) principles. Remanufacturing rules are typically based either on design charts or the consideration of production characteristics [12]. A comprehensive BC remanufacturing strategy still lacks a foundation.

An investigation of prior research revealed the absence of research addressing the remanufacturing strategy of BCs, which inspired this paper’s creation. The paper predominantly focuses on addressing the following three questions:

(1)

What factors can impact the core’s condition of BCs?

(2)

What factors exert influence over remanufacturing strategies?

(3)

How can these factors be harnessed to devise optimal remanufacturing strategies?

The objective of this study is to review the existing literature, and collect and organize remanufacturing factors, with a focus on examining the remanufacturability factors of the ‘core’ of BCs and key factors of remanufacturing strategies, to address questions 1 and 2. Finally, it analyzes how factors affect the strategy of remanufacturing BCs, and based on this, extends the rules for formulating remanufacturing strategies to solve question 3.

The main contribution of this article is that the remanufacturing business of BCs is a new topic. The researchers used this review to establish a list of influencing factors and made a descriptive analysis of their impact. The remanufacturing strategy formulation rules in this article help guide practitioners to make more appropriate decisions.

The subsequent structure of this paper is as follows: In Section 2, this research furnishes definitions of BCs and remanufacturing and elucidates their correlations with reduce, recycle, and reuse. Section 3 delineates the research methodology employed in this study. Section 4 meticulously examines the core’s condition and expounds on remanufacturing strategies. Factors influencing remanufacturing are extracted from these investigations. Section 5 engages in an analysis and discussion of how these specific factors can positively influence strategy formulation. Future research directions and the practical implications of this paper are expounded upon in Section 6 and Section 7. Section 8 culminates with several crucial conclusions.

2. Background and Concepts

2.1. Concept and Application of BCs

Current research in the realm of construction primarily centers on building materials and structures. Research dedicated to BCs has been relatively scarce. The higher labor cost per unit for disassembling BCs, compared to whole building demolition, accounts for this gap [13].

Victoria [14] revealed that demolished building debris frequently contained components that were still usable. Based on this, Kibert and Languell [15] proposed that when demolishing a building, the existing structure should be maximally protected and used directly for new construction. The concept of this transferable structure was the basic definition of BCs at that time. To be more specific, BCs are not necessarily a standalone building material but rather a combination of materials with clear primary functions [16]. These BCs that directly form a building are called structural components, for example, movable glass roofs, curtain walls, steel structures, etc. Later on, there are some indirect, unstructured, and digital temporary BCs outside the construction site, such as building templates, building fences, and building coverings [17]. Their characteristic is not to directly participate in the composition of the building but to provide undeniable services for the construction project. Both types of BC can contribute to construction. In this article, BC is defined as a combination formed in multiple ways to achieve architectural objectives.

2.2. Differentiating Remanufacture from Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle Concepts

In the construction industry, renovation is a common way to extend the lifespan of buildings, usually by only carrying out partial repairs rather than complete demolition and reconstruction, and the product may not necessarily enter the material cycle. As an advanced practice of circular economy, there are significant differences between remanufacturing and other modes of “3R” (reduce, reuse, and recycle), and understanding these differences is the key to promoting remanufacturing. Figure 1 illustrates their differences in the form of a flowchart.

Figure 1 illustrates that the fundamental essence of ‘Reduce’ lies in the endeavor to curtail resource consumption. In an ideal situation, all components do not need to be reused. For example, ice construction formworks will liquefy on their own, and the generated water can be used to accelerate concrete curing [18,19].

Recycling is often necessary when the service life of the original component has disappeared (or it is extremely short). The recycling process enables the original components to be crushed, filtered, and extracted as recycled aggregates. Multiple applications may be possible for recycled materials, and their new lifespan is independent and stackable [20,21].

Components capable of undergoing multiple cycles face a choice between ‘remanufacturing’ and ‘reuse’ despite being the same in some processes, such as repair and refurbishment. However, the remanufactured components have a function and lifespan that are not lower than the original components and maybe even surpass those of new products [22].

Overall, components retaining substantial lifespan or economic value are suitable for remanufacturing, often requiring only minor repairs or part replacements [23]. ‘Reuse’ and ‘recycling’ are strategies when the product’s life cannot be fully restored, while ‘reduction’ is mainly applied in the operational stage of production and manufacturing. ‘Remanufacturing’ involves the planning stage (design, procurement, etc.) before production and manufacturing.

3. Research Methodology

This study conducted a comprehensive review of the academic literature using various online databases. The steps involved are outlined in Figure 2.

This study used the Web of Science’s rigor and authority to search for literature on ‘remanufacturing strategy’ in the core database without regard to publication time limits. This action generated a total of 1208 documents, spanning from 2009 to 2023, which established the basic theory for this study. The publication period is divided into three distinct stages (as shown in Figure 2). Stage 1 (2009–2013) is the enlightenment stage, with 79 publications; Stage 2 (2014–2018) is the growth stage, with 287 publications; and the number of articles published in the last five years (2019–2023) has surged to 842. This indicates that the field is gradually receiving attention.

The 1208 articles are then analyzed using the statistical analysis tool ‘SATI’. Figure 3 displays the knowledge map of all high-frequency vocabularies, from which the top 10 terms were picked.

The 10 keywords were then combined with “building components” and cross-searched in two other academic databases (Scopus and Google Scholar). In addition, relevant papers belonging to the field but not captured by research strategies were also examined through the “snowball” method [24].

Next, the captured publications will be screened out. Research that does not include the term ‘construction’ in its abstract will not be automatically excluded. Compared to other industrial strategies, the current degree of remanufacturing in the construction industry is quite low, with opportunities for learning and experience. However, the abstract of a publication must include at least one of the following words: ‘architecture’, ‘building components’, ‘strategy’, ‘decision-making’, ‘circular economy’, ‘factors’, ‘strategy’, or ‘framework’, and ‘remanufacturing/remanufacturing’. Finally, do a text review; publications that include these words but do not focus on remanufacturing strategies have been rejected.

These studies may originate from a variety of industries. To extract their experiences and better integrate with BCs, this paper adopts a descriptive approach to extract detailed and objective descriptions of remanufacturing strategies from literature analysis and then derives conclusions through analysis, induction, and summarization of data.

4. Factors Affecting BC Remanufacturing

4.1. Core’s Remanufacturability Factors

In the context of remanufacturing, the phrase ‘core’ refers to products that have served their original purpose and are being returned for remanufacturing [25]. Core availability is also known as remanufacturability [26]. The number, quality, unpredictability, and remaining service life of cores are common difficulties in remanufacturing [27]. Consequently, a comprehensive analysis of these multifaceted aspects is imperative to gain in-depth insights.

The difficulty in analyzing a core’s remanufacturability stems from the interconnectedness of distinct core attributes or states, making it impracticable to examine them separately. Lund [28] proposed a ‘grid’ standard comprising three stages: pre-remanufacturing condition assessment, evaluation of original product characteristics, and assessment of potential economic value. Over time, substantial technological advancements in BCs have warranted an expansion of screening criteria. During the literature review of this study, it was found that very little research focused on the cores, especially in terms of BCs or building materials. Only 19 papers have directly addressed the impact of core status on remanufacturing, with five originating from remanufacturers. Based on a limited number of articles, this study expands the core criteria to 18 specific elements.

Table A1. List of Factors Affecting Core’s Remanufacturability.

Stage			Pre-Remanufacturing Condition Assessment (Core’s Status Checking)						Original Component’s Characteristics							Potential Economic Value Assessment
Item			The primary portion of existence	Physical damage grade	Residual functionality	Available quantity/Supply	Individuation/Aesthetic	Carbon footprint	Technical feasibility	Assembly/Deconstructive design	Standardization/Modularization	Dimensions/Specifications	Versatility/Substitutability	Durability/Reliability	Ingredients/Additives	Pricing/Profit/Cost	Labor availability	Core’s values	Customer requirements	Value added
Literature	1	Lund [28]	√ *	√	√				√	√	√					√	√			√
	2	Zheng [107]		√	√
	3	Brütting et al. [7]			√	√						√
	4	Zaman et al. [108]	√			√			√				√				√
	5	Duberg et al. [109]	√		√	√						√					√
	6	Sakao and Sundin [41]			√	√							√					√
	7	Zheng et al. [110]		√	√	√
	8	Ajayabi et al. [111]		√	√	√			√				√			√
	9	Cobut et al. [37]				√	√	√			√	√	√	√	√	√
	10	Yu [112]		√		√			√	√						√
	11	Boorsma et al. [30]				√		√		√		√	√						√
	12	Alanya-Rosenbaum et al. [113]				√					√	√	√	√
	13	Teunter and Flapper [114]			√	√										√
	14	European Remanufacturing Council [115]						√	√	√	√		√	√		√
Remanufacturer	15	Cat Reman [38]	√	√		√			√	√					√	√		√		√
	16	Asiawood Lumbers [116]			√		√	√				√	√	√		√
	17	Structural Steel Systems Ltd. [117]		√	√					√				√		√		√
	18	Rembos [118]			√			√				√		√		√	√
	19	Re-NetTA Research [119]	√			√								√				√	√	√
Count			5	7	11	13	2	5	6	6	4	7	8	7	2	10	4	4	2	3

* ‘√’ indicates that the ‘item’ in the header is mentioned in the left-hand citation.

depicts researchers’ and remanufacturers’ shared understanding of the basic states.

4.1.1. Step 1: Core’s Condition Check

All studies agree that a core’s condition check (Phase 1) should come before any remanufacturing activities. Although only five studies in Table A1 expressly emphasize the necessity of the core’s existence, it is an assumption underlying other studies. In terms of utility, studies have focused on physical damage and remaining functionality (performance), as both are directly related to the strength and structure of the recovered cores. Residual strength can be used to calculate the best timing for active remanufacturing [29].

In total, 13 out of 19 practitioners expressed concern regarding ‘core’ supply. This is mostly due to fluctuations in cores’ collection volume, material value, and transportation efficiency, which are not stable [30,31]. Conversely, the aesthetics and carbon footprint of cores seem to hold less significance. This results from the fundamental concept of remanufacturing: functional integrity is more practically valuable than aesthetic completeness [22]. There is also a scarcity of studies that particularly examine the environmental properties of cores. This is because remanufacturers prioritize completing detailed assessments of the entire remanufacturing process [32].

4.1.2. Step 2: Assessment of the Original Component’s Characteristics

To mitigate potential issues with core components, it is imperative to assess the compatibility of the original product or material with remanufacturing processes. Abdullah [33] asserted that original design schemes should align with the specific remanufacturing process. Similarly, design for deconstruction (DfD) and design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) have shown synergistic success in remanufacturing methods [31,34]. It is also possible to optimize deconstruction efficiency through techniques such as component modularization and standardization, which can improve production scheduling capacity and hence reduce production line construction costs [35]. Hence, highly customized products may not be well-suited for the remanufacturing process.

Because originals are versatile and interchangeable, remanufactured items should be able to replace new products, especially when both fundamentally target the same consumer market [36]. The durability of new products influences the level of demand for remanufactured products. Increasing the longevity of new items raises expenses while increasing the core’s residual value. Steeneck and Sarin [25] argued that if the core’s remanufactured version is in demand in the secondary market, it is worthwhile increasing the initial investment to improve durability.

The assessment of original product components and additives primarily revolves around environmental and occupational safety. For instance, adhesives, coatings, stains, disinfectants, and other volatile organic compounds in old parts may pose a threat to the health of workers and the natural environment [37,38]. However, they also provide benefits. Paris and Mandil [39] have experimentally demonstrated that the technology for rebuilding the characteristics of deposited materials can be used in remanufacturing operations.

4.1.3. Step 3: Assessment of Potential Economic Value

Predictably, hard financial data—profit, cost, and pricing—are a set of factors. The objective of pricing should be profit. Reasonable pricing makes the product marketable, but pricing is heavily influenced by cost. Financial data are superficial, yet it indicates the enterprise’s resource allocation. Companies in the remanufacturing industry must incur additional educational and training costs to cultivate highly qualified staff. Otherwise, it will reduce the scale of the labor supply [40].

Sakao and Sundin [41] firmly believed that the cores obtained should have appropriate quality. However, in industries such as the construction sector, such examples are relatively scarce. Table A1 shows that only four have taken this aspect into account, with three of them representing corporate entities. According to surveys, many customers have a negative view of products containing old ingredients [42,43]. Confronted with this challenge, remanufacturing can explore ways to add value to old products through methods such as material substitution, performance enhancement, and innovative solutions [44,45].

However, as shown by the statistical results in Table A1, there are still relatively few ‘core’ study cases that address customer needs, and the value added to older products. They may become key additional factors of remanufactured products.

4.2. Factors Affecting Remanufacturing Strategies

Remanufacturing and manufacturing are similar in that they include industrial processes with inputs and outputs. The 4M1E method (man, machinery, material, method, and environment) is a prime tool used in manufacturing analysis [46]. But it is not thorough enough. Because the remanufacturing strategy is a systematic process, it should cover the entire product life cycle. The earliest guidelines for remanufacturing came from Lund and Skeels [47], who suggested considering marketing, distribution, collection, finance, organizational restructuring, and legal aspects in the remanufacturing business. Furthermore, there are remanufacturing design strategies that focus on product deconstruction, cleaning, testing, and assembly as factors; remanufacturing processes and quantity strategies that focus on manufacturing technology; and strategies for selecting remanufacturers from a quality-first perspective [48,49]. From a macro perspective: environmental considerations, management practices, operational expertise, market dynamics, and endeavors in industrial sustainability [40].

To comprehensively understand the essence of currently successful remanufacturing strategies, a descriptive research approach was adopted to collect knowledge about the characteristics of the group [50]. This research has introduced one modification and incorporated two additional components into the ‘4M1E’ model. Specifically, replace ‘Environment’ with ‘Milieu’ and introduce ‘Marketing’ and ‘Sustainability’ as integral factors. This expansion provides the ‘6M1S’ model, which includes seven basic types of components. Following that, based on a thorough literature analysis, this study provides a comprehensive list of sub-factors that can be used as references.

Table 1. List of remanufacturing strategy factors, sub-factors, and codes.

Factor/Code	Sub-factor	Sub-Code	Reference
	Employee skills	A1	Subramoniam et al. [51] Barquet et al. [52] Shi et al. [53] Fang et al. [48] Long et al. [54] Cui et al. [43] Cetin and Zaccour [55] D’Adamo and Rosa [22] Yang et al. [56] Östlin et al. [57] Atasu et al. [58] Ovchinnikov [59] Abdulrahman et al. [40] Subramoniam et al. [26]
Man	Organizational structure/Management	A2
(A)	Customer factors	A3
	Stakeholders	A4
Machinery	Software	B1	Yang et al. [60] Talamo et al. [8] Tian et al. [61] Dulman and Gupta [62]
(B)	Hardware	B2
Material	Research and development	C1	Subramoniam et al. [51] Manco et al. [63] Abdulrahman et al. [40] Muranko et al. [64] Manco et al. [63] Cetin and Zaccour [55] Zhu et al. [65] Östlin et al. [57] Subramoniam et al. [26]
(C)	Exterior	C2
	Capability	C3
	Core quality/Value	C4
	Standardization/Modularization	C5
Method	Design	D1	Manco et al. [63] Dowlatshahi [66] Abdulrahman et al. [40] Kutz [67] Tian et al. [61] Dulman and Gupta [62] Vimal et al. [68] Long et al. [54] Cao et al. [69] Östlin et al. [57] Xu et al. [70] Wu [71] Ovchinnikov [59]
(D)	Collection	D2
	Deconstruction/Disassembly	D3
	Cleaning	D4
	Sorting	D5
	Processing	D6
	Assembly	D7
	Quality control	D8
	Warehousing	D9
	Transportation	D10
Milieu	Working environment	E1	Subramoniam et al. [51] Wang et al. [72] Jiang and Zheng [73] Talamo et al. [8] Shang and Li [74] Jiang and Zheng [73] Dowlatshahi [66] Cao et al. [69] Saxena et al. [75] Xu et al. [70] Chakraborty et al. [76] Ding et al. [77] Atasu et al. [58] Webster and Mitra [78] Wu [71] Abdulrahman et al. [40]
(E)	Production environment	E2
	Corporate system/Culture	E3
	Policy environment	E4
	Market environment	E5
	Environmental awareness	E6
	Technological environment	E7
	Intellectual property	E8
Marketing	Pricing	F1	Dowlatshahi [66] Atasu et al. [58] Subramoniam et al. [51] Guidat et al. [79] Jiang and Zheng [73] Cao et al. [69] Saxena et al. [75] Cui et al. [43] Cetin and Zaccour [55] D’Adamo and Rosa [22] Xu et al. [70] Yang et al. [56] Chakraborty et al. [76] Ding et al. [77] Östlin et al. [57] Subramoniam et al. [51] Atasu et al. [58] Ovchinnikov [59] Subramoniam et al. [26]
(F)	Cost	F2
	Sales service	F3
	Promotion/Monetary incentive	F4
	Public relationship	F5
	Carbon tax/Carbon currency	F6
	Sales/Marketing operations	F7
	Market size	F8
Sustainability	Ecology	G1	Subramoniam et al. [51] Mayer et al. [80] Talamo et al. [8] Vimal et al. [68] Chakraborty et al. [76]
(G)	Society	G2
	Economy	G3

contains detailed information on the factors, sub-factors, and their respective codes.

This paper defines the words used in Table 1 as follows:

(a)

‘Man (A)’ related issues in remanufacturing are common in employee skills, organizational structure, customer needs, and conflicts among other stakeholders.

(b)

‘Machinery (B)’ refers to software, equipment, and digital tools.

(c)

‘Material (C)’ in remanufacturing often refers to the ‘core’.

(d)

‘Method (D)’ refers to manufacturing processes that involve continuous sequences.

(e)

‘Milieu (E)’ encompasses the internal organizational environment, external macro-environmental opportunities and threats.

(f)

‘Marketing (F)’ refers to a variety of business activities that commence with customer needs.

(g)

‘Sustainability (G)’ refers to the development of sustainability at the macro level.

The factors listed above indicate the overall theoretical status of the remanufacturing method, and they may obscure some of the more nuanced and minor findings. As a result, this research continued to classify and restructure the 29 studies’ perspectives and results.

Table A2. Factors influencing remanufacturing strategies and their descriptions.

No.	Reference	Opinion/Conclusion	Code
1	Talamo et al. [8]	The capacity to use lean management is the key to advanced industrial construction solutions.	E3
		Improve communications and information technology to monitor building automation.	B1
		Verify if circular remanufacturing routes are indeed ecologically friendly.	G1
2	Fang et al. [48]	When new product prices are high, and the quality advantages of independent remanufacturers are minimal, original equipment manufacturers benefit from it.	A4
		Independent remanufacturers have the advantages of low cost and quality assurance.	A4
3	Tian et al. [61]	The three main production processes of remanufacturing systems are deconstruction, reprocessing, and reassembly.	D3
			D5
			D6
		Find the solution to the energy-efficient remanufacturing system scheduling problem.	B1
4	Dulman and Gupta [62]	Collect product signals by connecting and embedding RFID sensors; capture, process, and update the core’s data.	B1
		The sensors embedded help with deconstruction processes.	D3
5	Shang and Li [74]	Using a hybrid mix of remanufacturing strategy algorithms to strike a balance between overall aims and present optimality.	E7
6	Vimal et al. [68]	Reduce unnecessary weight by making design modifications.	D1
		Select raw resources that have a lower carbon impact.	G1
		Use energy-saving processing techniques.	D6
7	Jiang and Zheng [73]	No need to provide incentives when society has a high level of environmental consciousness.	E6
		Pricing must consider the cost of product collection in advance.	F1
		Third parties are required by the licensing model to consider the license price that was paid to the original equipment manufacturers.	F2
8	Long et al. [54]	Business modes were studied, and it was determined that the competition mode between original equipment manufacturers and independent remanufacturers can be transformed into a cooperative remanufacturing mode to a certain extent.	A4
		The joint collection of the core’s information is beneficial for improving the profits of the various parties.	D2
9	Cao et al. [69]	Amendment to scrapping/recycling/collection regulations.	E4
		Increased subsidies facilitate the launch of remanufacturing businesses.	F4
		Remanufacturing can grow on a larger scale with the assistance of sharing and lowering patent royalties.	F2
		Extend the routes of collection.	D2
10	Saxena et al. [75]	The implementation of a carbon price regime is advised.	E4
		Using a carbon tax, incentive, and foreign exchange savings strategy is advised.	F6
11	Cui et al. [43]	The two most significant consumer preferences are cost and quality.	A3
		Seeking profitability requires maintaining a high-cost coefficient rather than focusing on quality.	F2
12	Manco et al. [63]	The percentage of goods that can be remanufactured is represented by the return rate factor.	C4
		Robotic deconstruction enhances high reproducibility and cuts down on processing time.	D3
		Knowing how much material must be added to each component ahead of time during the repair process is beneficial.	D6
13	Cetin and Zaccour [55]	The launch of remanufactured items is significantly influenced by consumer perceptions of these products.	A3
		Remanufactured items are being introduced in large part because of their economic advantage.	F2
		R&D innovative parts can replace worn or old technology parts, producing upgraded and remanufactured products, both of which can replace new products and achieve maximum profit.	C1
14	D’Adamo and Rosa [22]	Maintain client loyalty while attending to the obvious demands of the market.	A3
		Proactive strategy: expanding the product line and improving the brand’s reputation for sustainability.	F5
		Provide more services to boost financial benefits in the post-purchase phase.	F3
15	Zhu et al. [65]	Laser cladding can restore the appearance of the gear before it breaks.	C2
		Remanufactured teeth have lower tensile properties but are harder and more wear-resistant.	C3
16	Xu et al. [70]	Product collection laws lessen the damaging effects of manufacturing on the environment when collection costs are very high, but they also hurt original equipment manufacturers’ profits.	E4
		Even in the absence of collection laws, remanufacturers have a financial incentive to gather all old items when reverse operating costs are very low.	F2
		The best collection rate is established when reverse operating expenses are minimal and are combined with new production costs.	D2
17	Yang et al. [56]	Customer remorse over overspending or underspending has an impact on business earnings.	A3
		The perceived value of remanufactured items among consumers is largely influenced by the source of remanufacturing (self-made versus third-party produced).	A4
		The pricing of remanufactured products significantly affects consumer perception.	F1
		After-sales actions should be implemented to lower consumers’ perceived risks associated with remanufactured items when market uncertainty is higher.	F3
18	Wang et al. [72]	Remanufacturing may decrease because of higher collection objectives or lower carbon emission restrictions.	E4
		Adopting a dual supervisory system is recommended.	E4
		High collection objectives or low carbon emission limitations should be established for the environmental aspect.	E4
		Various legislative forms should be adopted by policymakers based on their goals.	E4
19	Chakraborty et al. [76]	The remanufacturing subsector has enormous potential for reducing carbon emissions.	G1
		Marginal remanufacturing costs are a significant determinant.	F2
		Government aid is seen as a means of encouraging remanufacturing.	E4
20	Ding et al. [77]	Legislation related to collection may have a greater impact on remanufacturing.	E4
		Improving the remanufacturing rate will reduce the production cost of new products for implementing enterprises as well as carbon emission costs.	F2
		The quantity of remanufactured goods rises in response to carbon taxation by governments.	F6
21	Östlin et al. [57]	A product or component’s typical consumption and lifespan can be predicted in advance by calculating the number of cores that will need to be reflowed in the future.	C4
		Whether or not consumers are willing to return items affects how many will need to be returned in the future.	A3
		Original equipment manufacturers are in a stronger position to remanufacture.	A4
		Obtaining the best cores for remanufacturing will become the new approach as supply grows.	C4
		The coordination and management of collection systems are important aspects of supply chain management.	D2
		More opportunities for remanufacturing arise from the use of standardized and modular components.	C5
		Determine remanufactured product pricing according to the product’s life cycle stage.	F1
22	Subramoniam et al. [51]	It is important for the original equipment manufacturer department to make judgments on remanufacturing early.	E3
		Lower the amount of material used and switch to services in place of goods.	F3
		Remanufactured enhancements can be made using generic parts.	C5
		Remanufacturing products impacts the ecology and dependence on resources.	G1
		When the uncertainty of remanufacturing increases, companies are more likely to establish bureaucratic or family governance mechanisms, which is not conducive to creating employment opportunities.	G2
		Unified ordering of remanufacturing evaluation equipment to promote remanufacturing testing and achieve economies of scale through better savings.	G3
		Create solutions by collaborating with all parties involved throughout the first phases of planning.	A4
		Another factor motivating suppliers to remanufacture products is intellectual property rights.	E8
		Provide comparative data to prove that remanufactured products are as good as new products.	C3
		The expense of disposing of products will become a significant factor in the future.	F2
		Remanufactured products could be eligible for green tax credits.	F6
		Government regulations can be an important driver of remanufacturing decisions.	E4
		High-volume plants and low-volume plants should be kept apart since they demand distinct services.	A4
23	Atasu et al. [58]	The higher the profits from remanufacturing, the competition among new product enterprises becomes more intense.	A4
		Business-to-business remanufactured products ought to have a more aggressive pricing approach.	F1
		Market size impacts the time it takes to introduce remanufactured products.	F8
		Pricing for remanufacturing may be influenced by varying amounts of market competition or market structures.	E5
24	Subramoniam et al. [26]	The choice to remanufacture a product may be adversely affected if there are no client needs for applications of the remanufactured product.	A3
		Decisions on remanufacturing may suffer from a lower core’s usable life.	C4
		Decisions on product remanufacturing are positively impacted by the enterprise’s strong product repurchase incentives.	F4
25	Webster and Mitra [78]	Remanufacturer earnings will increase if government collective collection is implemented.	E4
		The tax burden on society will be decreased by implementing government communal collection.	E4
		Manufacturer-specific collecting might lead to the monopolization of the industry.	E5
26	Wu [71]	Original equipment manufacturers’ production costs are decreased by high deconstruction.	D3
		Remanufacturers’ collecting expenses are decreased by high deconstruction.	D3
		The success of remanufacturing depends in part on the design for deconstruction.	D3
		Market structure has a significant impact on remanufacturing strategies, such as obtaining high profits from segmented markets or penetrating the entire market at low prices.	E5
27	Ovchinnikov [59]	Remanufacturing decisions should minimize the impact of new product sales on the market size of remanufactured products.	F8
		A business must strike a balance between how many remanufactured items it wants to sell and how easy it is to remanufacture old components.	F8
		Increasing the collection of cores can reduce costs and competitive threats.	D2
		Knowing customer behavior benefits the business.	A3
28	Dowlatshahi [66]	Proactive customer service has value.	F3
		Decisions for remanufacturing must take the enterprise’s entire strategy into consideration.	E3
		Operational factors are not the most crucial ones.	D6
		The specific needs of customers are very important. This includes meeting delivery times, providing items in a short period of time, as well as after-sales service and repairs.	F3
		The manufacturing resources, techniques, technology, and expertise that are currently in use determine how effective remanufacturing is.	E7
29	Abdulrahman et al. [40]	Technical problems dominate the surveyed companies (more than 50%).	E7
		The main management factors that hinder remanufacturing are the lack of skilled labor and organizational structure integration.	A2
		Enforcing government regulations is a crucial aspect that might impact the future of remanufacturing in China.	E4
		Robust intellectual property protection is perceived as a hindrance to remanufacturing processes that are outsourced.	E8

shows the breakdown items, while

Table 2. Factors influencing remanufacturing strategies frequency summary.

Code	Frequency	Summary	Code	Frequency	Summary
A1	0	16	E1	0	25
A2	1		E2	0
A3	7		E3	3
A4	8		E4	13
B1	3	3	E5	3
B2	0		E6	1
C1	1	10	E7	3
C2	1		E8	2
C3	2		F1	4	26
C4	4		F2	8
C5	2		F3	5
D1	1	17	F4	2
D2	5		F5	1
D3	6		F6	3
D4	0		F7	0
D5	1		F8	3
D6	4		G1	4	6
D7	0		G2	1
D8	0		G3	1
D9	0
D10	0

highlights the frequency of Table A2 recurring codes. It is worth emphasizing that, due to the scarcity and uncertainty of accessible information, decision traps can occur. When numerous keywords exist in the views at the same time, the execution factors associated with these keywords are selected for coding.

4.3. Analysis and Understanding of Remanufacturing Strategy Factors

4.3.1. Marketing (F)

Marketing is the most prevalent type (Table 2, Total Frequency 26), while the frequency of concern for the cost (F2) is 8. This is because, in comparison to traditional consumer products, BCs have significantly greater collection costs. Although all costs may not be listed in the relevant literature, these expenditures may include costs for recruiting additional managers and workers with the necessary skills, planning, and disassembly services for purchase, and warehousing during periods of non-operation. These expenses are typically categorized as sunk costs [76].

Among the other significant market behaviors are the following: Independent remanufacturer (IR) prioritizes the franchise or patent fees paid to the original equipment manufacturers. The sales of remanufactured products depend on consumer attitudes. Some scholars believe that the method to enhance market activity is to increase consumer satisfaction, which can be heightened through strategies like promotions, sales or marketing operations, and enhancements in post-sales services. On the other hand, proactive measures can also be taken by remanufacturers to improve public relations, such as strengthening their brand image and expanding their product line [22].

4.3.2. Milieu (E)

Environmental concerns are often the driving force behind government remanufacturing policies [81]. Table A2’s policy description reveals that current policy priorities include a variety of topics, including raising public awareness of environmental issues, updating waste management laws, developing collection tactics, setting pollution thresholds, and implementing carbon tax laws. Depending on their goals, policymakers can adopt either a broad or a focused legal framework [72,78]. A pivotal determinant of policy success lies in the enforcement of regulations. Within the remanufacturing domain, it is advisable to institute a dual regulatory system rather than a singular one [40,72].

4.3.3. Method (D)

Many academics have clearly stated that deconstruction techniques are necessary for effective quantity and value collection in the cores of BCs. Unlike demolition, it uses planned and controlled processes to ‘produce’ components and materials while optimizing their structures or functions [82]. However, one of the obstacles faced by BCs is the difficulty in quantifying the workload for collection and deconstruction [83]. Some new methods were explored in Table A2, such as monitoring and assessing the product’s condition in advance or adopting a collaborative collection approach to accumulate cores [54,62].

4.3.4. Man (A)

The most common term in the factor set ‘Man’ is ‘customer’. If a product fails to match or align with consumer expectations, focusing on other strategic aspects will be ineffective [66]. Price and quality are generally regarded as the two most important consumer desires [43].

Other stakeholders appearing in Table A2 include (but are not limited to) supply chain professionals, remanufacturers, original manufacturers, local communities, and governments. Original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and IR are the most frequently appearing combinations in Table A2. Scholars believe that within the realm of remanufacturing, OEMs often have a higher influence on core quality or quantity, consumer perception, and operational expenses. If OEMs do not participate in remanufacturing, IRs may enter the market first and fight for returns and market share.

4.3.5. Material (C)

When reviewing materials for remanufacturing, the primary emphasis lies on the core’s quality and worth. This point was previously addressed in Section 4.1 and will not be repeated here. In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion about using current technology to pick acceptable remanufacturing techniques depending on the properties of core materials. Additionally, it should be noted that the remanufacturability of a product is influenced by additional characteristics of the substance [27,84]. This is rarely noticed.

4.3.6. Machinery (B)

The three that focus on remanufacturing machinery all emphasize software facilities. This reflects that while digital technology research lines are expanding, there remains an overall deficiency in comprehensive management software for the entire remanufacturing process [85].

In the research and development of software for remanufacturing, the initial challenge faced is data scarcity. The majority of remanufactured products lack tracking management, and OEMs do not consistently provide product data in a standardized format [86]. Second, many small and medium-sized companies often opt for various, more streamlined software solutions. Nevertheless, variations in the interfaces of software, production equipment, and IT equipment create obstacles to efficient data collection, communication, comparison, validation, and method indexing [87]. Lastly, issues with machinery breakdowns, intricate procedures, incomplete information, insufficient cores, and component delays can all contribute to frequent errors in the remanufacturing scheduling software that is currently in use [88,89].

4.3.7. Sustainability (G)

Sustainability indicators within the construction industry are classified as economic, environmental, and social categories, often referred to as the triple bottom line [90]. Unlike the indicators used to evaluate products, Wilson et al. [91] argued that sustainability indicators should broadly reflect the level of sustainability of nation-states from a macro perspective. For example, the sustainable economic indicators of cities are related to the disposable net income of residents [92]. This means that remanufacturing must avoid slipping into the trap of low-wage labor via technology premiums. Cycle design and production scheduling can help reduce total energy consumption in remanufacturing [93]. Improving environmental sustainability involves reducing pollutants (e.g., exhaust gas, particulate matter, wastewater, and solid waste), promoting a green supply chain, and raising sustainability awareness [94,95,96,97]. More detailed research is needed on how to leverage their advantages in remanufacturing strategies.

Unlike the previous two, social sustainability is a qualitative criterion that should be universally applicable [98]. According to the literature, assessing social sustainability value in remanufacturing enterprises frequently shows good associations with employment, vocational skills, occupational health, and safety [99,100,101]. The remanufacturing sector can use this feature to encourage widespread public participation in remanufacturing production.

Overall, environmental, economic, and social sustainability are three interconnected aspects, and there may not be a ‘best measure’ for evaluating remanufacturing sustainability. It should be built on the fundamental principle that remanufacturing strategies must be aligned with the country’s, nation’s, and society’s long-term development goals.

5. Analysis and Discussion

5.1. Basic Factors and Guidelines for Remanufacturing Strategies

Basic remanufacturing rules can be formed by comprehending the literature, analyzing the current environment of the remanufacturing process, and investigating the link between its primary components. Value factors are critical for the successful implementation of remanufacturing. As described in Section 4.1, the value of remanufacturing is influenced by two fundamental factors that determine the core’s status: its availability or supply and its residual functionality or performance.

Secondly, remanufacturing is essentially a mode of production and must process the basic factors required in the production and operational processes. Among these essential factors, this research considers labor availability (Table A1), the work/technical/production environment, and equipment (Table 1). Dismantling is a required step in obtaining the cores of BCs. Ghazilla et al.’s [102] dismantling experiments revealed that fastening operation time constitutes 30–40% of the total dismantling duration. Improving disassembly efficiency requires designers to solve the design or selection issues of fasteners. This category includes factors such as accessories, fasteners, installation, dismantling, and disassembly design, as detailed in Table 1.

Finally, as an essential framework for regulating behavior, policies are the foundation for both citizens and businesses. Policies have numerous functions, including guiding, regulating, controlling, and allocating resources in remanufacturing processes. Drawing insights from Table A2, it becomes evident that government guidance has a positive impact on the remanufacturing industry [103]. The enforcement of policies is often influenced by social and environmental conditions.

To summarize, the above-mentioned basic remanufacturing factors are critical in deciding the success or failure of methods. These factors are supplemented by a set of basic principles that emphasize their importance which are as follows:

(a)

The cores of BCs must exist.

(b)

The cores of BCs must have residual values.

(c)

The residual values of BCs must exceed the remanufacturing cost.

(d)

Basic production conditions for remanufacturing must be met, including personnel, technology, equipment and tools, and facilities.

(e)

BCs must be dismantled using moveable fasteners.

(f)

The entire operational process should be consistent with local policies and regulations.

5.2. Promoting Factors and Implementation Guidelines for Remanufacturing Strategies

Table 2 identifies seven major sub-factors with counts of ≥5 that have a significant impact on the creation of remanufacturing strategies. The sub-factors are as follows:

(1)

Policy Environment (E4/13);

(2)

Cost (F2/8);

(3)

Stakeholders (A4/8);

(4)

Customer Factors (A3/7);

(5)

Deconstruction/Disassembly (D3/6);

(6)

Collection (D2/5);

(7)

Sales Service (F3/5).

Items (1), (2), and (5) were examined in Section 5.1 because of their significance. This part will not cover the same three projects. Compared with basic factors, the four factors (3), (4), (6), and (7) greatly affect the qualification rate and overall efficiency of the strategy. Afterward, a cross factor was found between Table 1 and Table 2, i.e., ‘Standardization/Modularization’. Although the cumulative count is minimal, it is nevertheless advisable to consider this factor.

After understanding the content of the ‘viewpoints’ in Table A2, this research concluded that the work of stakeholders is crucial in determining appropriate remanufacturing strategies. Efficient remanufacturing production mainly depends on the performance of OEMs and IRs, while other stakeholders participate in the necessary work at a certain stage of the process. Engineers, for example, assess a product’s remanufacturability throughout the design phase. At present, there is no standardized process for defining stakeholders’ work, which requires the allocation of remanufacturing tasks based on their respective resources and capabilities. Create a suitable corporate cooperation approach to maximize added value and derived earnings from stakeholders’ efforts.

Customer factors and sales service are a couple of strongly correlated factors. Most research on both focuses on the individual consumers’ behavior. Although customers do not directly participate in operational processes such as design, disassembly, and inspection, their comprehension, and subjective purpose for remanufacturing items may have an impact on important phases, including whether consumers are willing to return the old core, which affects the availability of the core, the willingness of consumers to accept the level of remanufacturing, and the time of use of remanufactured products affects the process flow of remanufacturing. And sales service can improve customers’ perceptions of remanufacturing. Currently, research on after-sales service strategies is rather extensive, but there is insufficient study on combining consumers’ comprehensive needs, as well as disclosing aspects related to customer and supplier behavior [104].

At the beginning of the remanufacturing process, the collection of cores provides processing objects for remanufacturing production, which is crucial for the success of the remanufacturing business. The literature indicated that the lack of cores with appropriate quantity and quality are two highly concerning points. Some remanufacturers choose to actively manage the core acquisition process, such as by establishing refund policies to encourage customers to return the core with ‘proper’ quality and imposing required product collection restrictions on manufacturers [105,106]. This indicated that the relevant issues have been taken into consideration. The main cores’ gathering strategies, as well as how to combine multiple procedures, may be worthwhile issues to investigate.

To enhance the likelihood of product reuse, increase the standard part rate and evaluate the product’s modularity. It might be a single item or a collection of parts that provide certain roles. In this sense, each module can be viewed as a reusable unit that can be made, installed, and repaired independently. Standardized parts can minimize the number of parts, lowering the core collection category, making product disassembly, processing, and assembly easier, and shortening the remanufacturing process.

In summary, great business models, customer-oriented concepts, a collection strategy of cores, and creative design thinking can all offer value to remanufacturing strategies. The promotional conditions established to ensure that they serve as success factors are as follows:

(a)

To investigate stakeholder characteristics and create suitable business partnership models.

(b)

Pay comprehensive attention to consumer awareness and demand for remanufactured products.

(c)

Using after-sales service to establish a strong relationship between customers and remanufacturers.

(d)

Explore cores’ collection strategies and the possibility of combining several strategies.

(e)

Standardize or modularize the core’s design.

5.3. Recommendations for Formulating Remanufacturing Strategies

This literature review explored potential influencing components in remanufacturing procedures as well as how to appropriately implement these factors. In the process of evaluating studies, we discovered that policymakers are formulating BC’s remanufacturing strategy in an unfamiliar environment, and it is difficult to clearly plan. Without a reasonable strategy, remanufacturing’s viability will be called into question. In practical operations, what approach should be followed for strategy formulation to be appropriate?

A successful remanufacturing strategy must combine flexibility, safety, and stability. It became imperative to solidify current advantages and manage uncertainty within the scope of cyclical fluctuations. Figure 4 displays this strategic notion with the ‘tumbler’ approach: using basic factors as the ‘foundation,’ producers respond to the external environment with a curved posture. This could both ‘stand firm’ and quickly adjust direction. Promoting factors were stacked at the bottom of the curved surface to lower the center of gravity. Uncertain factors were piled circularly at the top, making them both prone to causing the wobbling of the gyroscopic device and susceptible to ‘escaping’ the tumbler framework’s control.

When this combination experiences an imbalance due to external interference or an increase in unstable factors, as long as the ‘center of gravity’ remains stable, it could quickly regain stability after wobbling. Furthermore, the ‘circular’ unstable factors may, with the progress of science and the efforts of researchers, be ‘polished’ and subsequently stabilize, becoming a part of the ‘center of gravity’. This approach also explains how remanufacturing tactics have gradually improved over time. This concept primarily emphasized the logical relationships between practitioners, factors, and strategies.

6. Future Research

Future research should investigate more comprehensively the factors that affect remanufacturing. Although many factors were identified, most of them come from references. In the future, online data (such as documents published by governments, social organizations, and remanufacturing companies) and offline data (such as factors obtained from surveys, interviews, and observations) can be integrated. In addition, influencing factors can be extracted from other channels such as images and audio to obtain a more comprehensive list of influencing factors.

In addition, it is necessary to conduct a more in-depth analysis of the known factors to obtain their direction and degree of impact on remanufacturing. For example, comparing the remanufacturing factors of the construction industry with those of other industries to determine if there are differences in key factors; use the Delphi method to confirm the practicality of factors in practice; use the Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis method (MCDM) to determine the relationship and importance between various factors; or for important factors, machine learning methods can be used to observe their characteristics. Revealing the deep relationships among these factors helps study and predict remanufacturing activities.

To date, remanufacturing efforts have mostly focused on identifying and disassemblingthe ‘structural’ components of huge buildings. Future research should broaden its scope to include additional, albeit indirect, and temporary components such as steel sheet-pile retaining walls, scaffolding, and shelters, as well as smaller building service components such as electrical sockets, switches, fire alarms, security systems, and so on.

7. Implications of This Study

Construction components are a relatively new concept in the world of remanufacturing. There are insufficient ways to analyze the core’s remanufacturing capabilities. Table A1 shows a straightforward technique with three steps and 18 parameters. Before remanufacturing, the fundamental competence should be assessed. The original product attributes influence the complexity of remanufacturing tasks, and the potential economic value can be used to assess post-core remanufacturing returns. This strategy applies to all types of components, and the critical factors are easily identified. It benefits everyone to make preliminary decisions in uncertain situations at a low cost.

Furthermore, this paper offers a comprehensive overview and analysis of remanufacturing strategies. This review was utilized to compile a list of factors (Table A2) and analyze the reasons for their impact. Finally, based on these specific impacts, this study developed implementation recommendations as a reference tool and proposed a creative approach for building new strategies. This document efficiently guides practitioners through the logical connections between remanufacturing uncertainty, critical factors, and criteria for starting remanufacturing. This novel concept can effectively utilize previously overlooked or neglected resources.

8. Conclusions

As previously stated, the unique environment of building sites, along with the strict standards of remanufacturing processes, provides significant hurdles to the construction industry’s involvement in remanufacturing activities. As a result, it is necessary to examine the key criteria for both initial and long-term performance. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the growth and application of remanufacturing strategies and construction components published between 2009 and 2023.

To avoid confusion, this article established the definition of construction components and distinguished between remanufacturing and typical reduction, reuse, and recycling techniques. Following that, this study expanded its efforts to investigate the important variables of remanufacturing strategies and conduct a descriptive analysis. Based on this analysis, four tables were presented in the paper, explaining three stages and eighteen parameters influencing the core (Table A1). This study also identified seven key categories and forty sub-factors impacting remanufacturing strategies (Table 1). Furthermore, following a detailed description of these factors’ perspectives on remanufacturing strategies and their frequency count (Table A2 and Table 2), this paper has established guidelines for carrying out remanufacturing activities by leveraging the positive effects of both basic and promoting factors. These variables provide critical insights for launching remanufacturing initiatives.

Moreover, this research provides practitioners in the field of BCs with a ‘tumbler’ approach to strengthen the formulation of remanufacturing strategies, highlighting the contribution of each condition and/or factor. Future research endeavors may concentrate on enhancing the comprehensiveness, reliability, and ease of implementation of remanufacturing strategies, alongside the development and advancement of management and supportive functions.

This article is limited to the relatively new topic of the ‘remanufacturing of BCs’, and the insufficient literature in this research field may lead to results that are not universally applicable. In addition, this article is based on some assumptions, assuming that all BCs have a common basic feature. This article analyzes the group characteristics based on this assumption, and the distinguishability is not high. However, the prominent remanufacturing features of different components should also be tested. In the future, research may be conducted on the specific characteristics of a certain type of building component to improve the influence, reliability, and ease of implementation of factors.