After being named ‘remanufacturer of the year 2010’ by international remanufacturing magazine ReMaTec News, European VP Francois Augnet, expresses his strong confidence in the future of automotive remanufacturing in general and emphasises the role of remanufacturing in TRW's continuing development.
"Rather than see this as an award for myself, I see it as a recognition of what we're trying to do and of the time and energy we as a team have invested in promoting remanufacturing," François said.
"I also, of course, view it as a recognition of the industry as a whole and our efforts to promote remanufacturing on several levels - in Brussels, Geneva and in the European Parliament."
He further highlighted remanufacturing as an excellent compromise in terms of the environment and in terms of costs to the consumer.
We should also remember that remanufacturing is also a very good opportunity for Europe to maintain and create jobs.
At a time when many industries are moving jobs outside the European Union, it does not make sense for remanufacturers to do this because of the costs of moving parts out of Europe and then back again."
To illustrate his view that remanufacturing in Europe, and elsewhere, is a growth industry, François Augnet draws comparisons between the North American market where a total of 350,000 people work in the reman industry and Europe where the comparative figure is 30-35,000 people. "The potential is tremendous," he said. "Firstly, from a CO2 perspective, remanufacturing is the optimum compromise while at the same time, it provides jobs for local people. It's important to recognise that there is much more labour involved in remanufacturing than manufacturing new parts.
"We should always remember that remanufacturing is a problem-solving industry. In many cases, the only way to keep older cars on the road is to use remanufactured car parts. So for me, this is a further reason why this is an industry full of promise with a big future ahead of it."
This article is taken from an interview that appeared in ReMaTecNews.
This is the only international magazine dedicated to automotive and heavy duty worldwide, and is an independent channel for news, views and developments within the remanufacturing industry. The magazine is delivered to recipients in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and South America.