65

Estimating the Potential Material-saving Effects of Automotive Parts
Remanufacturing in Southeast Asia
Mitsutaka MATSUMOTO1*, Yoon-Young CHUN2, Thomas GUIDAT3
and Kiyotaka TAHARA2
1

Advanced Manufacturing Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST),
1-2-1 Namiki, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8564, Japan
2
Research Institute of Science for Safety and Sustainability,
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST),
16-1 Onogawa, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8569, Japan3
Industry Relations and Technology Transfer Center, Vietnamese-German University (VGU),
Le Lai Street, Hoa Phu Ward, Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province 75000, Vietnam*E-mail: matsumoto-mi@aist.go.jp

Abstract
Remanufacturing is an important element in enhancing the resource efficiency of economies. Automotive
parts are a representative target of remanufacturing. This study has attempted to estimate the potential
contribution of automotive parts remanufacturing toward reductions in material resource consumption in theSoutheast Asian region. Material consumption for automobiles and automotive spare parts in the region in 2030
is estimated at 5.2 million tons and 314,000 tons, respectively. Of the materials, steel is expected to comprise
3.5 million tons and 213,000 tons, accounting for 2.7% and 0.16%, respectively, of steel use in the region. The
material-saving effects of remanufacturing are then considered. The results indicate the potential contributionof automotive parts remanufacturing to the reduction of material consumption in the region in 2030 to be an
estimated 251,000 tons of materials and 170,000 tons of steel, accounting for 0.13% of steel use in the region.
This article also presents a discussion on potential market barriers to remanufacturing in the region. The major
barriers include: 1) manufacturers’ hesitation to undertake remanufacturing, and 2) consumers’ non-acceptanceof remanufactured products. The implications of a web-questionnaire survey the study conducted in four
countries in the region to assess consumers’ acceptance of remanufactured products are discussed along withitems needing further study.
Key words: automotive parts, consumer perception, remanufacturing, resource efficiency, Southeast Asia,
sustainable consumption and production

1. Introduction
Reducing material resource consumption is an
essential requirement for realizing a sustainable society.
Overconsumption of material resources has been widely
warned about since as early as the 1970s. Still, global
consumption has continued to increase over time, and it isexpected to increase further in the future. The global
annual consumption of metal materials has reached
8 billion tons today, and it is predicted to reach 20 billion
tons in 2060 (OECD, 2019). The current study focuses on
the Southeast Asian region. The region’s economic
development is remarkable, and the consumption ofmaterial and energy is also increasing rapidly. Today, theregion has a population of 662 million, accounting for8.5% of the global population, and substantially larger
Global Environmental Research
25/2021: 065–073
printed in Japan

than that of Japan, the US or the EU (Table 1). On theother hand, the number of cars owned in the region is
58 million, 4.5% of the global total, and the annual
consumption of steel there is 93 million tons, 4.9% of the
global total (Table 1), representing the potential for car
ownership growth. These factors indicate that the region’smaterial and energy consumption is most likely toincrease significantly in the following decades. Measures
are necessary to mitigate the increase.
Remanufacturing is an industrial process in whichused products are restored to their original as-new
condition/ performance or better (UNEP-IRP, 2018).
Remanufacturing has the effect of reducing material
demand because it prolongs the usage of the components
of a product and thus reduces the demand for newcomponent manufacturing. Remanufacturing is even
2021 AIRIES66

M. MATSUMOTO et al.

Table 1 Basic economic indicators, automobiles and steel use in Southeast Asia and other regions.
Sales of new
Vehicles in
GDP per
Vehicles inPopulation in
vehicles inuse per
capita in 2019use in 2015
2020
2019
1000
(USD current(thousand(millions) a(thousandinhabitantsbdprices)units)
units) c
in 2015 dIndonesia
271.7
4,200
1,030
22,513
87
Malaysia
32.8
11,210604
13,309439
Philippines
109.6
3,510
410
3,823
38
Singapore
5.8
65,64091
813
145
Thailand
66.5
7,820
1,008
15,491
228
Vietnam
96.2
3,420
277
2,170
23
ASEAN10 f
662.0
4,940
3,471
58,11888(global ratio)(8.5%)(3.8%)(4.5%)

Steel use in2019 (thousand
metric tons,
crude steel
equivalent) e
19,14010,706
11,6972,899
21,41627,31893,176(4.9%)

Steel use percapita in 2019(kg crude steel
equivalent) e
71
335
108
499
308
283
140

Japan
China
US
EU27+UK

126.0
1410.6329.9
447.0

40,800
10,24065,25046,5905,195
25,797
17,037
17,896

77,404
162,845
264,194294,213

609
118
821
581

69,782
947,519
108,500
172,437

550
659
330
336

Global7773

11,54090,424

1,282,270

182

1,888,890

245

a

Source: Population Reference Bureau https://www.prb.org/2020-world-population-data-sheet/b
Source: International Monetary Fund https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/datasets/WEO
cde
Source: (OICA, 2021a)
Source: (OICA, 2021b)
Source: (World Steel Association, 2020)
f
ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) comprises 10 member countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam,
Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. In this paper, “ASEAN10” and “Southeast Asia” are used interchangeably.

more essential, even compared with recycling, because it
can be more economically viable, more resource-efficientand less energy-intensive than recycling.
Although remanufacturing has attracted attention inrecent years in academia, industry and government, it is
not clear how much of an impact remanufacturing will
have on material saving at the societal or macro level. The
market impacts of remanufacturing have become
gradually clearer in the last decade. The production ofremanufactured goods in the US in 2011 was estimated at
43.0 billion USD (USITC, 2012), and in Europe, at 29.8
billion EUR (ERN, 2015), but again, the material-saving
effects are not known. This study has attempted toestimate the potential contribution of automotive parts
remanufacturing in Southeast Asia.
The automobile industry in Southeast Asia, typicallyin Thailand, has developed through the attraction offoreign automobile manufacturers since the 1960s.
Foreign automobile manufacturers have set up local
factories, followed by which, foreign automotive parts
manufacturers have also set up local factories. In recent
years, local parts manufacturers have been growing. The
number of parts manufacturers is largest in Thailand,followed by Indonesia and Malaysia (DBJ, 2015). Thisregion has local parts manufacturers and potential for
growth of the parts remanufacturing industry.
The
automotiveparts
sectoriswhereremanufacturing is most actively conducted globally. This
study has attempted to address whether the potential
impact is on the order of 1%, or 0.1%, or 0.01% materialsaving in the Southeast Asian region. Clarifying the scaleof impacts is the first step in arguing for the priority ofmeasures and policies.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Chapter
2 presents our estimation of the potential material-saving
effects of automotive parts remanufacturing in Southeast
Asia. The methods, assumptions, data and results of thisestimation are presented. Chapter 3 discusses the market
barriers to remanufacturing in the region. These barriers
mayincludeconsumers’
non-acceptanceofremanufactured products and companies’ hesitation toundertake remanufacturing. The final chapter discusses
the results and concludes the study.

2. Potential Material-saving Effects ofAutomotive Parts Remanufacturing inSoutheast Asia
2.1 Estimation Method
We estimated the potential material-saving effects ofautomotive parts remanufacturing in Southeast Asia in theyear 2030 using the following procedures:
1) The materials breakdown of an automobile wasestimated.
2) The amounts of flow (annual sales) and stock(products in use) of automobiles in the region in 2030
were estimated. Based on that and the materials
breakdown per automobile estimated in (1), thematerial usage for automobiles in the region in 2030
was estimated.
3) The demand for spare parts stock per car, and thematerials breakdown of spare parts were estimated.
Based on those estimations and car stock estimated in(2), the material use for spare parts was estimated.
4) The material-saving effects of automotive parts
remanufacturing at the product level were estimated,Estimating the Potential Material-saving Effects of Automotive Parts Remanufacturing

and the share of remanufactured parts in the spareparts market was estimated. Based on theseestimations and the material use for spare parts
estimated in (3), the potential material-saving effects
of automotive parts remanufacturing were estimated.
5) The CO2-saving effect was also estimated. Based on
estimates of CO2-saving effects of automotive parts
remanufacturing at the product level, and the amountof remanufactured automotive parts estimated in (4),the potential CO2-saving effects of automotive parts
remanufacturing were estimated.
The estimations in these processes involved uncertainties;
therefore some of them can be regarded as assumptions
rather than estimates. The processes are described infurther detail in the following sections.
2.2 Flow and Stock of Automobiles
Material resources are used in developing all types ofartifacts including, buildings, urban infrastructure,transportation infrastructure and all kinds of products.
Automobiles are one of the prominent consumers ofmaterial resources. Today, 90 million cars are soldannually (flow), and 1.3 billion cars are in use globally(stock) (Table 1). The stock has increased for over a
century and its trend shows it is not likely to reachsaturation in the near future. Southeast Asia comprises
4.5% of the global stock (Table 1). It has sales of 3.5
million cars (flow) and 58 million cars in use (stock)(Table 1). While the number of cars per 1000 inhabitants
is around 600 in Europe and Japan, and 821 in the US, it
is 88 in Southeast Asia, and the figure varies highly
country-wise in the region, from 439 in Malaysia to 23 in
Vietnam (Table 1). These figures and trends indicate thatboth the flow and stock in Southeast Asia are likely toincrease significantly in the coming decades.
2.3 Material Use for Automobiles
An automobile typically weighs 1.0 to 1.5 tons. Of
the curb weight, approximately 70% is steel (ferrous
metals), 10% is non-ferrous metals (Al, Cu, etc.), 10% (orless) is plastics and 10% (or more) is other materials(glass, rubber, fluids, etc.). Several studies haveinvestigated bills of automobile materials (e.g. Mayyas
Table 2 Materials breakdown and weight of an automobile.
Steel
Non-ferrous metal (Al, Cu, etc.)
Plastics
Others (rubber, glass, fluids)
Total weight

Weight (kg)
773
147
89
145
1153

Portion (%)
67.0
12.7
7.7
12.6
100.0

Note: We referred to the data collected in the study by Tahara et al.
(2001). Although not all the details on the data used in that study
were indicated in the literature, we used those data in our study.
The total weight (1,153 kg) does not include the weight ofgasoline, although the ‘curb weight’ generally includes the weightof gasoline.

67

et al., 2017; Bobba et al., 2021; Tahara et al., 2001). We
used the figures shown in Table 2 for the weight of an
automobile and its materials breakdown.
Assuming the figures in Table 2 represent the average
figures for automobiles in Southeast Asia, we estimatedthe amounts of materials in vehicles sold in 2015 and2030 in the region. Table 3 shows the results, where, in
2015, the vehicles (3.1 million units) are made up of
3.59 million tons of materials, of which 2.86 million tons
are metals, of which 2.40 million tons are steel (Table 3).
The amount of steel (2.40 million tons) accounts for 2.8%of the total steel used in the region (Table 3).
In our estimation for the year 2030, we firstestimated the car sales and steel use in the region in theyear 2030. They were estimated in both cases byextrapolating the linear approximations of their trends inthe years 2010–2019. The car sales in 2030 were
estimated at 4.5 million units, and the steel use, at
130 million tons (Table 3).
We assumed that the influence of increased numbersof electric vehicles (EVs) and other factors would be
limited. Globally, more than 6.8 million battery EVs(BEVs) were on the road in 2020 (IEA, 2021), whereas inThailand, only 7,250 BEVs were on road yet as of April
2021 (EVAT, 2021). EVs (total of BEVs and plug-in
hybrid EVs (PHEVs)) are predicted to account for 7% of
the car stock worldwide by 2030 (IEA, 2021). The ratio is
expected to be lower in Southeast Asia. This study did nottake the influences of car electrification into account.
The materials, metal and steel used in vehicles in theregion in the year 2030 were estimated at 5.19, 4.14, and3.47 million tons, respectively, and the steel for cars wasestimated to comprise 2.7% of the total steel used in 2030
(Table 3).
The estimated fractions of steel used in automobilesin the region (2.8% and 2.7%) are smaller than those
globally. According to Allwood and Cullen (2015), thesteel used in cars and trucks in 2008 globally was 108
million tons, comprising 10.0% of total steel used
globally that year.
2.4 Material Use in Spare Parts
We then estimated the amount of materials used inTable 3 Materials used in automobiles.
Automobile sales in SEA (units) (a)Weight (=a*1.153) (tons)
Metal weight (=a*0.920) (tons)
Steel* weight (=a*0.773) (tons) (b)Steel use in SEA (tons) (c)Steel use fraction (=b/c) (%)

2015
3.11 M 1)
3.59 M
2.86 M
2.40 M
84.8 M 2)
2.8%

Note: SEA stands for ‘Southeast Asia’.
1)
Source: (OICA, 2021a)2)
Source: (World Steel Association, 2020)3), 4)
Source: Authors’ estimation (or assumption).

2030
4.50 M 3)
5.19 M
4.14 M
3.47 M
130 M 4)2.7%

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M. MATSUMOTO et al.

automobile spare parts. To estimate this, we estimated thematerials breakdown of spare parts, and the quantities ofspare parts traded in markets. Table 4 shows 11 types ofautomotive parts that are commonly traded as spare partsin markets. When an automotive part is broken, the driver
can make a choice of repairing the part (repair), replacing
the part with a brand-new one (new), replacing it with aremanufactured part (remanufacturing) or replacing itwith a reused part (reuse). The 11 types of parts also
represent the parts that are commonly remanufactured
today in regions such as the US (Frost & Sullivan, 2011),
EU (Bobba et al., 2021) and Japan (the authors’ study).
The table shows the parts’ weight, parts’ steel content
weight, and our estimates of the ratio of spare partdemands (units) to car stock amounts (units).
These estimated ratios indicate spare engine demand
units, for example, in year Y, and are calculated asfollows:(car stock number in year Y) * (0.5%)
The weight of material used in these engines (total weightof the engines), and the weight of the steel used in theengines are calculated as follows, respectively:
Table 4 Top remanufactured automotive parts, their weight, steel
content and demand per car in stock.
WeightSteel
Spare part demand
(kg)
(kg)
per car in stock*
Engines
135.0
73.6
0.5%
Alternators
4.5
2.7
2%
Starters
2.5
1.5
2%
2.4
2%
AC compressors
5.8
Transmissions
102.5
82.0
0.5%
Driveshafts
7.6
6.9
2%
Electronic units
53
0.5%
Clutches
6
6
0.5%
5
1%
Brake calipers
5
Steering gears
6.6
6.6
0.5%
Water pumps
1.9
1.2
0.5%
*Note: Estimated ratio of the annual demand for spare parts (units) to thenumber of automobiles-in-use (cars in stock). For example, “2%”indicates that when there are 100,000 cars in use, there will be
demand for 2,000 units of spare parts per year.
For the parts’ total weight and steel weight, we referred to datacollected in the study by Tahara et al. (2001).

(car stock number in year Y) * (0.5%) * 135.0 (kg),(car stock number in year Y) * (0.5%) * 73.6 (kg)We estimated the ratio (e.g., 0.5% for the engine) byreferring to the estimated units of remanufactured parts
sold in the EU (Bobba et al., 2021), the corresponding
estimation in the US (Frost & Sullivan, 2011), and theauthors’ interviews with personnel in the industry in Japan.
In the EU, for example, 3.22 million units ofremanufactured alternators (spare parts) were sold in 2012
(Bobba et al., 2021). The ratio to the car stock number inthe EU that year (260.5 million) was 1.2%. We presumed
the potential ratios would be larger in Southeast Asia
because the average age of the cars in the region was
higher than in the EU, US or Japan. We assumed the ratio
would be higher by up to 70% in Southeast Asia. For
alternators, we hypothetically estimated the ratio at 2%(Table 4).
The car stocks in the years 2015 and 2030 inSoutheast Asia were/will be 58.1 million (Table 1) and
90.0 million (authors’ estimate), respectively. The
potential demand figures for spare parts shown in Table 4(11 types of parts) were calculated at 7.0 million and10.8 million units, respectively. These have total weightsof 101,000 tons and 157,000 tons, respectively.
In addition to the 11 types of parts in Table 4, we also
took other parts into account. The parts consideredadditionally were mainly exterior automotive parts suchas doors, bonnets, lights, mirrors and so on. These parts
are more like to be reused than remanufactured today. We
include these parts in our account because the potential
demand for remanufactured parts of these types does exist.
We assumed that the total weight of demand for theseparts would be the same as that for the 11 types of parts.
Our results show the total weight of the demand forthese spare parts to be 203,000 tons in 2015, and 314,000
tons in 2030. Of these amounts, steel accounts for
137,000 tons in 2015, and 213,000 tons in 2030. Figure 1
presents our estimates of the flow and stock ofautomobiles, spare parts and related materials for the year
2030.
The demand for spare parts, or the ‘spare partdemand per car in stock’ in Table 4, can vary from market

Fig. 1 Estimated flow and stock of automobiles, potential spare parts and related materials in Southeast Asia in 2030.

Estimating the Potential Material-saving Effects of Automotive Parts Remanufacturing69

to market depending on the conditions under which cars
are used. The factors can include: the average age of the
car stock in the market, road conditions, climate
conditions (temperature, humidity, etc.), quality oforiginal components and so on. The available data forspare parts are limited. For reference, Table 5 shows theresult of the authors’ survey (web questionnaire survey)
on drivers’ experiences with repairing or replacing
alternators or starters in six countries. The percentage ofdrivers who had experienced the need for repair or
replacement was relatively high in the four Southeast
Asian countries (50.2% in Malaysia to 74.8% in Vietnam),and it was also high in the US (55.6%) and low in Japan
(11.3%). Although demand for spare parts may differ andchange depending on conditions in the future (either
increasing or decreasing), the estimates in Fig. 1 present a
potential.

Malaysia is growing (Yusop et al., 2016), whereas
Vietnam does not have an identified remanufacturingindustry yet (Guidat et al., 2017). The Malaysian
government is also active in supporting the developmentof a promising remanufacturing sector within a local hub
for remanufacturing (Yusop et al., 2016; Matsumoto et al.,2021). In Indonesia, the industry is still in a very earlystage of development. Fatimah et al. (2013) describe
remanufacturers as not very effective at producing
remanufactured parts. The Indonesian government strictly
restricts the import of used capital goods, which could
partially limit the growth of the industry in that country(Matsumoto et al., 2021). Overall, in Southeast Asia,
automotive parts remanufacturing is most likely tocontinue to grow in the coming decades, and thegovernments and industry should also support its growth
to enhance the circularity of products.

2.5 Automotive Parts Remanufacturing in Southeast
Asia
Globally, the automotive parts remanufacturingindustry is one of the largest remanufacturing sectors. It is
the second-largest sector in the EU after the aerospacesector (ERN, 2015) and is the third-largest in the US after
the aerospace and heavy-duty & off-road (HDOR)
equipment sectors (USITC, 2012). In the aftermarket for
automotive alternators and starters, for example,
remanufactured parts comprise 90% in the US (Frost &Sullivan, 2011) and EU (Bobba et al., 2021), and about
50% in Japan (Matsumoto et al., 2018).
In Southeast Asia, reuse (or direct reuse) and repair
are much more common than remanufacturing today.
Generally, repair is more artisanal and labor-intensive
than remanufacturing. In a long-term trend, as thecountry’s economy develops and income and wage levelsof the country rise, repairs are more likely to be replacedby remanufacturing (Matsumoto et al., 2018). The growthlevels of automotive parts remanufacturing industries varyfrom country to country in Southeast Asia. The industry in

2.6 Potential Material Saving Effects of Automotive
Parts Remanufacturing
In remanufacturing, 65% to 95% of subcomponents
on a weight basis are reused (Kim et al., 2008; Fatimah
et al., 2013; UNEP-IRP, 2018; Bobba et al., 2020), This
indicates that remanufacturing has 65% to 95%
material-saving effects compared with brand-new
parts manufacturing (manufacture of parts using only
new subcomponents). Conservatively assuming thatremanufacturing has an 80% material-saving effect,
the potential contribution of automotive parts
remanufacturing in saving materials overall and steel
itself would be 162,000 tons and 110,000 tons,
respectively in 2015, and 251,000 tons and 170,000 tons,
respectively, in 2030. These amounts of steel correspondto 0.13% of the steel used in Southeast Asia in 2015, and
0.13% of the steel to be used in the region in 2030.

Table 5 Drivers’ experiences with repairs/replacements ofalternators or starters.
Have you ever repaired or replaced analternator or starter (A/S) in your car,including the A/S of your current car
and/or your previous cars?
Yes
No
I don’t know
Indonesia
N=500
66.2%
33.8%
Malaysia
N=500
50.2%
39.6%
10.2%
Thailand
N=500
64.8%
35.2%
Vietnam
N=500
74.8%
20.4%
4.8%
Japan
N=600
11.3%
61.7%
27.0%
US
N=500
55.6%
38.8%
5.6%
Source: Authors’ web-questionnaire survey of car owners in these six
countries.
Notes: The survey in the US was conducted in November 2014. The
surveys in the other five countries were conducted in January
2017. In the surveys in Indonesia and Thailand, the authors
overlooked inclusion of the answer option of “I don’t know”.

2.7 Potential CO2-Saving Effects
We also estimated the potential effects ofremanufacturing on reducing CO2 emissions. First, theCO2 emissions from manufacturing 203,000 tons of newspare parts (in 2015) and 314,000 tons of new spare parts(in 2030; Fig. 1) were estimated. The emissions were
calculated at 629,000 tons of CO2, and 974,000 tons ofCO2, respectively. The inventory data from the previous
study (Tahara et al., 2001) was used in the calculation.
Second, the CO2 saving effects of remanufacturing wereconsidered. Extant studies indicate that remanufacturing
saves 85% of energy use (Kim et al., 2008), and 66–78%
of global warming potential (GWP) (Bobba et al., 2020)
when compared with new parts manufacturing. Assuming
remanufacturing saves 75% of CO2 emissions comparedto new parts manufacturing, using 203,000 tons ofremanufactured spare parts in 2015 and 314,000 tons in
2030 (Fig. 1) instead of using brand-new spare parts
would save emissions of 472,000 tons of CO2 and
731,000 tons of CO2, respectively. The ratios of these70

M. MATSUMOTO et al.

figures to the total CO2 emissions of Southeast Asia in2015 (1.3 billion tons CO2) are 0.036% and 0.056%,
respectively.
2.8 Discussion
This section has provided estimates of materials usedin automobiles and spare parts in Southeast Asia. It wasestimated that 3.6 million tons of materials were used in
automobiles in 2015 and for spare parts, 137,000 tons.
Suppose about 20% of sub-components need to be
replaced in remanufacturing with new sub-components. In
that case, 80% of the material used in spare parts
represents potential material-saving effects throughautomotive parts remanufacturing. For spare parts, reusedparts and repaired parts are commonly used in the region
today. However, as the economy grows in the area,
brand-new spare parts may become more common(Matsumoto et al., 2018). It is vital to make the use of
remanufactured spare parts widespread instead ofencouraging use of brand-new spare parts.
The material for spare parts (293,000 tons) accounts
for about 5% of the total amount of materials in
automobiles and spare parts. It should be seen that it is ofgreat significance that 5% of materials used in a sector
can be circulated through remanufacturing. The estimatedresults also indicate that the effects of using automobiles
for a long time are also significant. A simplified
calculation shows that if the average life of a car increases
by 10% (used for 1.5–2 years longer), the demand for new
vehicles will be reduced by 10%, which corresponds to360,000 tons of materials. Automotive parts
remanufacturing can also affect the long-term use ofvehicles because availability of inexpensive and reliable
remanufactured spare parts gives drivers an incentive tomaintain and repair their cars, which leads to long-term
use rather than replacement with new cars.
There are several important issues regarding material
use in the automotive sector. First, as it is often argued,
there can be trade-offs between material saving and CO2
reduction. Prolonged use of cars can eliminate
opportunities to replace CO2-inefficient cars with theFig. 2latest CO2-efficient vehicles. Both the material and CO2
aspects should be adequately considered. Second, there
can also be trade-offs between material saving and car
safety. The average weight of a car has increased over the
decades in the US (Mayyas et al., 2017) and in Europe(Allwood & Cullen, 2015). There are several reasons forthis trend, one of which is that car weights have increased
to improve the safety of cars. If it is challenging to savematerials on account of safety issues in automobiles,
long-term use and circulation are even more critical. Third,
promoting the use of secondary materials in automobiles
may have a significant material-saving effect. In theautomobile sector, there is plenty of room for material
recycling. Forth, as a long-term trend, internal combustion
engine (ICE) vehicles will be replaced by EVs. Adopting
remanufacturing and circulation for EVs and EV spareparts will be a significant challenge.

3. Discussion: Market Barriers for Automotive
Parts Remanufacturing
3.1 Barriers to Remanufacturing
The barriers to remanufacturing are mainly derived
from the difficulty of integrating products issued from acircular manufacturing process into a business ecosystem
dedicated to maximizing the number of products fromtraditional linear systems in the market. Figure 2 presents
the perceived barriers to remanufacturing from the pointof view of a manufacturing company (Widera & Seliger,2015). Typically, there are four categories of barriers toremanufacturing (Fig. 2; UNEP-IRP, 2018). They include:(1) core acquisition barriers, (2) technological barriers, (3)market barriers (product sales barriers (Fig. 2)), and (4)regulatory barriers.
The technological barriers include a lack of technicalsolutions for optimizing material and information flows.
The market barriers refer to a range of obstacles, themajor ones of which include: 1) original equipment
manufacturers’ (OEMs’) hesitation to undertake
remanufacturing, and 2) consumers’ non-acceptance ofBarriers to remanufacturing. Source: Widera and Seliger, 2015

Estimating the Potential Material-saving Effects of Automotive Parts Remanufacturing

remanufactured products. A market barrier specific to
OEMs is the fear of cannibalization (Fig. 2), which showsthat remanufactured products are considered as replacing
the sales of new and more profitable product ranges with
their potential to tap new markets or customer segments.
The obstacles in this context in the region are discussed
below, where the discussion of OEMs is based on aliterature review.
3.2 Market Barriers on the Supply SideIn the spare parts market in Southeast Asian countries,
as well as in other countries, including the US, EU andJapan, independent remanufacturers rather than OEMs are
the main actors in supplying remanufactured automotive
parts today. From a long-term perspective, OEMs are
expected to play a significant role in the remanufactured
automotive parts market. A market barrier specific to
OEMs is the fear of cannibalization. Many OEMs offeringremanufactured products encounter internal resistancefrom departments in charge of new products over theperception of competition, resulting in fewer financial andsales channels specific to the remanufactured products
markets. Especially in North American and European
automotive parts markets, OEMs have launchedremanufactured product lines only to face competition
from independent remanufacturers. This reaction causes
most producers in this field not to consider
remanufacturing part of their long-term development
strategy. Therefore, it can be assumed that the relativelack of independent remanufacturers in Southeast Asia,
combined with the small market size, can explain the lackof application by OEMs of remanufacturing in suchcountries. As imports of used products are increasingly
restricted, the option to offer imported remanufactured
parts may also not be seen as an economically attractive
solution.
Further consideration of business models forautomotive parts is needed. In general, remanufacturing
works best when the cost savings compared to new parts
benefit the OEM in the case of product-service systems
where use of the product is sold without transfer of71

ownership. As per example in the case of copy machines
leased as “pay per use” on customer premises, thesemodels are widely accepted within the providing
companies, and customers focus solely on the reliabilityof the product instead of its production origin.
3.3 Market Barriers on the Demand SideThe spread of remanufacturing largely depends on
consumers’ acceptance of remanufactured products.
Consumers are often unfamiliar with remanufactured
products, and even if they know about them, they may
have concerns about the quality of remanufactured
products.
Thesehindertheir
acceptanceofremanufactured products (Matsumoto et al., 2018). A web
questionnaire survey to investigate consumers’ knowledge,
purchase experiences, and purchase intentions regarding
remanufactured automotive parts was conducted in a totalof six countries, including four Southeast Asian countries– Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The survey
targeted consumers who owned and drove cars. Table 6
shows the question items and the results, which show that
consumers in the four countries have a relatively highacquaintance with remanufactured auto parts. While inJapan, only 22.2% of consumers have heard of
remanufactured auto parts, many more consumers in thosefour countries know about the products. Also, many
consumers in the four countries answered they had
experienced purchasing of remanufactured auto parts,
while in Japan, only 16.3% of consumers answered thatway. The average intention to purchase remanufactured
auto parts is also high in the four countries compared toamong consumers in Japan. These results indicate that thefour countries in Southeast Asia are in favorably suited interms of consumers’ level of knowledge, familiarity andintention to purchase remanufactured auto parts. The
industries and governments in these countries shouldmake efforts to maintain that level.
Although the four Southeast Asian countries in which
the survey was conducted comprise the majority of theregion, having 92% of the car stock in 2015 and 71% of
population in 2020, the other six countries in that region

Table 6 Consumers’ knowledge, purchase experience and purchase intention of remanufactured automotive parts.
[Knowledge]
Q: Have you ever heard of
remanufactured auto parts?

Indonesia
Malaysia
Thailand
Vietnam
Japan
US(N=500)(N=500)(N=500)(N=500)(N=600)(N=500)

Yes
80.8%
73.0%
69.2%
95.2%
22.2%
70.8%

No
19.2%
27.0%
30.8%
4.8%
77.8%
29.2%

[Purchase experience]
Q: Have you ever boughtremanufactured auto parts?
Yes
51.4%
42.0%
48.8%
66.8%
16.3%
41.8%

No
48.6%
58.0%
51.2%
33.2%
83.7%
58.2%

[Purchase intention]
Q: If I need to repair an alternator or starter (A/S),
I am willing to buy remanufactured A/S.
7-point Likert scale (“1: strongly disagree” to“7: strongly agree”)
Average (middle=4.0)
4.43
3.98
4.44
4.93
3.28
4.25

Source: Author’s web-questionnaire survey to car owners in the six countries.
Notes: The survey in the US was conducted in November 2014. Surveys in the other five countries were conducted in January 2017.

72

M. MATSUMOTO et al.

have different economic properties. Those six countries
include more wealthy nations such as Singapore andBrunei, and also countries less developed than the four
countries surveyed. Consumer behaviors could differ inthose countries, and future research should include amarket study in these six countries.

4. Conclusions
This article has presented estimates of the potential
material-saving
effects
ofautomotiveparts
remanufacturing in Southeast Asia. The potential for theyear 2015 is estimated at 162,000 tons of material,
110,000 tons of steel and 0.13% of the steel used in theregion. The potential for the year 2030 is estimated at
251,000 tons of material, 170,000 tons of steel and 0.13%
of the steel used in the region. For steel use, theautomotive sector (automobiles and spare parts) uses
about 3.0% of the steel in the region, and spare parts
remanufacturing has the potential for saving 5% of thesector’s steel use.
There are other sectors that consume large amountsof steel. Globally, 42% is used in buildings, 14% in
infrastructure and 13% in mechanical equipment, among
others. (Allwood & Cullen, 2015). Each sector should
promote material saving through long-term use,maintenance and remanufacturing. In addition to themarket barriers discussed in the previous chapter, autoparts remanufacturers face core acquisition, technologicaland regulatory barriers. Governments are expected to help
industries overcome these barriers and support therealization of a circular economy.
Acknowledgement
This research was supported by the Environmental
Restoration and Conservation Agency (ERCA) of Japan,
Project ID: JPMEERF16S11603 of the Environmental
Research and Technology Development Fund.
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Mitsutaka MATSUMOTO
Mitsutaka Matsumoto is group leader of theAdditive Processes and Systems Group at theAdvanced Manufacturing Research Institute(AMRI) of the National Institute of Advanced
Industrial Science and Technology (AIST),
Japan. His research interests include productremanufacturing, production systems, smart
manufacturing, additive manufacturing and sustainability. He holds abachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering from Kyoto
University and a PhD in decision science from the Tokyo Institute ofTechnology.

Yoon-Young CHUN
Yoon-Young Chun is a researcher in the
Advanced Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Groupat the Research Institute of Science for Safety
and Sustainability (RISS) of the National
Institute of Advanced Industrial Science andTechnology (AIST), Japan. Her research interests
focus on LCA, ecodesign, sustainable businessmodels, consumer behavior and carbon accounting. She holds abachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degree in environmental engineering from
Ajou University, Korea.

Thomas GUIDAT
Thomas Guidat has been director of the Industry
Relations and Technology Transfer Center(IRTTC) of the Vietnamese-German University(VGU) in Binh Duong since 2019. His researchinterests are circular economy, entrepreneurship,
innovation and sustainable manufacturing. He
holds a double masters’ degree in technology andinnovation management from Toulouse Business School (TBS) and theTechnical University of Berlin (TUB) and a PhD from TUB in industrial
engineering, obtained after five years work as a research engineer formachine tools and factory management.

Kiyotaka TAHARA
Kiyotaka Tahara is director of the ResearchLaboratory for IDEA (Inventory Database forEnvironmental Analysis) at the Research Instituteof Science for Safety and Sustainability, National
Institute of Advanced Industrial Science andTechnology (AIST). He received his PhD in
chemical engineering from Seikei University in
1998. He started his career as a researcher at the Research Center for Life
Cycle Assessment, AIST in 2001, and served as team leader of theEnvironmental Efficiency Research Team for five years from 2003, and asgroup leader of the Advanced LCA Research Group for six years from2010. He currently leads development of the life cycle inventory databasefor IDEA .

(Received 31 May 2021, Accepted 27 July 2021)