A Review of the Literature on Process Innovation in Remanufacturing

The aim of this article is to present a concise review of the relationship between environmental sustainability, environmental innovation and remanufacturing. In the past, corporate environment was accounted as an environment determining the firm performance by economic, social, political and technological factors. However, lately, environmental factors are also included into the corporate environment. Recent research studies focus on the Environmental Management System as an extremely effective instrument for organizations; and concentrate on the Environmental Innovation as technological product and process innovation. Product innovation has been widely studied in the areas of new product development, product design for environment, and design for remanufacturing. The studies on remanufacturing show that it can be profitable and can create environmental benefits. However, the literature is insufficient on process innovation. Consequently, environmental innovation as technological product and process innovation results in a reduction of environmental impacts, and there is an emerging need for further studies on process innovation in remanufacturing.