Remanufacturing Overview and History

Around the world, Caterpillar is driving positive, sustainable change through advanced processes and product innovation. As the world leader in remanufacturing, Cat Reman is making progress possible finding new ways to reduce, reuse, recycle, and reclaim materials which once would have gone into a landfill.

Last year, Cat Reman took back over 2.2M end-of-life units and remanufactured over 161 million pounds of material. With a sustainable business model and a high-quality, lower cost product support option, Cat Reman is good for our customers, good for our business, and good for our environment.

A leader in remanufacturing technologies and processes, Cat Reman returns products at the end of their lives (called 'core') to same-as-new condition and helps reduce owning and operating costs by providing our customers same-as-new quality at a fraction of the cost of a new part. Through the remanufacturing process Caterpillar reduces waste, lowers greenhouse gas production and minimizes the need for raw materials.

Once a returned core arrives at a Reman facility, it is disassembled down to the smallest part, losing its original identity. Each element goes through a cleaning process and is inspected against strict engineering specifications to determine if it can be effectively salvaged. Accepted worn out components are then converted into production ready material through advanced salvage techniques which use the same rigorous engineering process that goes into new Cat machines.

These world-class salvage techniques make it possible for Cat Reman to return otherwise unusable core parts to the latest performance specifications, a key differentiator when looking at remanufacturing at Caterpillar versus the competition.

Physical vapor metal deposition is an excellent example of Cat Reman's advanced salvage techniques. This salvage technique is used to increase the durability of remanufactured injectors. This advanced process allows us to apply a precise coating to the plunger (an internal component of the injector), enhancing surface hardness and wear resistance. This coating process was developed by Cat Reman and is a technology also used on new Caterpillar injectors.

Another advanced metal deposition salvage technique uses a high density laser beam to deposit new material, restoring the wear surface to original specifications even to the micron level.

These advanced Cat Reman salvage processes help us keep our costs low… and pass on the savings in the form of lower prices compared to new components. Cat Reman is just one way Caterpillar is developing new solutions to grow the business and help create a more sustainable world.