Mission to China

It is estimated that remanufacturing – the process of embedding value in products by returning them to full working order, rather than allowing them to become waste at the end of their life – could be worth up to £15 billion a year in China. This not only represents a massive business opportunity but can also have a major impact on lowering CO₂ emissions.

The mission, backed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy was led by Dr Yan Wang from the University of Brighton who said: “Remanufacturing has gained increasing attention in the UK and has the potential to grow to up to 10 percent of manufacturing turnover. But the present ratio of remanufacturing to new manufacturing is still low both here and across the EU.

Dr Yan Wang

“The problems in growing remanufacturing in China are the same as they are here – poor perceptions of remanufactured products, lack of global standards and management of the global supply chain. All of these issues could be tackled at a global level and this study has shown that there are huge potential areas of collaboration between the UK and China, especially in a post-Brexit world.”

The final report from the mission has made a number of recommendations for further collaboration between the two countries, including:

• Joint funding and co-operation on the development of technical standards for remanufacturing
• Establishment of a remanufacturing network to link academics, industry and policy makers
• Exploring the potential for joint funding to help drive research and innovation
• Establishment of a dialogue to identify opportunities to improve trade and investment

Dr Wang is a senior lecturer at the University of Brighton’s School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics.