Marine Components Remanufacturing Taking Off

Caterpillar, Tru-Marine, present the case for remanufacturing industry to Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members at Singapore Facility

In its continuing efforts to promote the benefits of remanufacturing, Caterpillar Inc.hosted representatives from several Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies at its newest Cat Reman® facility in Singapore. The tour was part of a meeting of APEC's Market Access Group where industry and government experts from all 21 APEC economies learned more about how remanufactured goods are returned from end-of-life products to same-as-new specifications.

For customers, the availability of remanufactured goods means more uptime for their products, which translates into significant production and financial benefits. In the case of Solar turbine engines, a subsidiary of Caterpillar, the use of a remanufactured unit can mean the difference between several days for an exchange with a remanufactured unit compared with up to four months to remove, transport, overhaul, and return an end-of-life unit to the customer.

Caterpillar isn't the only company incorporating remanufacturing into its business model. APEC representatives also toured the Tru-Marine Pte Ltd facility in Singapore (Tru-Marine recently started remanufacturing turbocharger components).

"Our business premise is to recover turbochargers to their original maker quality instead of the premature renewing of useful components," explains David Loke, Tru-Marine group managing director. "Constant innovation has been a key tenet at Tru-Marine that enables us to provide better value than commonplace turbocharger Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) methods.  Remanufacturing aligns with our strategic progression toward sustainable technologies to reuse resources, and to reduce down time and wasted by-products.  Cost savings are in turn passed on to the customers when the lifespan of such high value resources is extended."

With 35 years of extensive experience in turbocharger reclamation and industry leadership in turbocharger research and development, remanufacturing has become a natural evolution for Tru-Marine to move up the value chain.  The remanufacturing processes will capitalize on the company's current turbocharger MRO core competencies, complete with proprietary test procedures to certify that remanufactured components have achieved their original maker specifications.