Deposit Systems: Incentivizing Take-Back at Knorr-Bremse

Remanufacturing depends on getting used products back. Can a deposit system give customers an incentive to return them?

Thomas Meyer, responsible for remanufacturing, repair and reuse activities within Knorr-Bremse TruckServices, explains how Knorr-Bremse uses a core deposit in the independent aftermarket to bring parts back for remanufacturing.

What you'll hear in this episode: • Why the deposit value is linked to the market value of the core, and how returning an equivalent product keeps parts flowing back • What happens to returned cores, from assessing and disassembling them to deciding which components can be reused, reconditioned or replaced • Which data and systems are needed to manage remanufacturing, including core return rates, regeneration rates and ERP processes for products coming back

The conversation also covers the economics of remanufactured parts for older vehicles, design for remanufacturing and the challenge of reducing manual work in disassembly. This is the second episode of our B2B Take-Back series.

People Thomas Meyer, Global Director Product Group Reman at Knorr-Bremse Truckservices https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-meyer-99b6561a4/

Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert https://www.linkedin.com/in/hypscher/

Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:32 Who is Knorr-Bremse 03:31 What EconX stands for, and who buys it 05:34 Repairing ECUs beyond Knorr-Bremse parts 07:39 From core to end-of-line test 09:59 When reman pays off for older trucks 13:22 Pricing about 20% below new parts 14:20 Labor and core logistics as cost drivers 15:37 Scoping reman from the design phase 19:56 How the core deposit works 24:59 How the deposit value is set 28:55 Why ERP systems struggle with reman 32:42 Which KPIs to track from day one 35:16 The challenge: manual disassembly 36:56 Outro

About Knorr-Bremse TruckServices is the German commercial vehicle aftermarket business of Knorr-Bremse. It provides replacement parts, maintenance solutions and technical services, while supporting circularity through the remanufacturing and reuse of vehicle components to extend their lifetime and reduce the need for new materials.

Further Links https://truckservices.knorr-bremse.com/en/de/products/econx/ https://www.knorr-bremse.com/en/

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