Reliability assessment of used parts: an enabler for asset recovery

At Xerox, a major management commitment is a 0% material disposition to the landfill. This is accomplished through a process called Asset Recovery Management(ARM) which incorporates into our production design the concept of total recycling. This paper discusses the methodology used to assess the reliability and acceptability of used parts for use in remanufacturing of machines. The most important phases are the failure analysis of field failures and the design and implementation of a production test system to sort for acceptable parts. A case study on a used motor is described to amplify on the methodology suggested here.