Classification of crankshaft remanufacturing using Mahalanobis-Taguchi system

Abstract

Remanufacturing is a process of returning a used product to at least its original performance with a warranty that is equivalent or better than that of a newly manufactured product. During a preliminary inspection on remanufacturing companies, it was found that there is no end life for crankshafts in terms of classifying it either to remanufacture, repair or reject due to limited information provided by the original equipment manufacturer. The manufacturer did not provide any information on the annual quantity produced and their specifications to the remanufacturing company for the purpose of referencing. Eventually, the distinctiveness of the remanufactured crankshaft from the original cannot be measured. Thus, the aim of this work is to classify crankshafts' end life into recovery operations based on the Mahalanobis-Taguchi System. The crankpin diameter of six engine models were measured in order to develop a scale that represents their population in a scatter diagram. It was found that on the diagram of each engine model, the left distributions from the center point belong to rejected crankshafts, the right distributions belong to re-manufacturable crankshafts, and the upper distributions belong to the repairable crankshafts. The developed scale is believed to be able to help remanufacturers instantaneously identify and match any unknown model crankshafts to its right category. The Ministry of International Trade & Industry (MITI) has established a remanufacturing policy under RMK11 and put in efforts to encourage Malaysians to venture into the remanufacturing business. Thus, this model will help the industry to understand and formulate their decision-making to sustain the end of life of their products.