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Oct 16, 2012 2:00 PM

Meritor  views remanufacturing as a critical component of the company’s sustainability  program, according to Chairman, CEO and President Chip McClure.

“At Meritor, we consider  sustainability an economic, social and environmental requirement for commercial  success,” McClure said.   

McClure delivered the keynote address  at the Remanufacturing and the Sustainable Organization conference in Troy,  Mich., produced by the Motor & Equipment Remanufacturers Association (MERA)  and the Golisano Institute for Sustainability, which is part of the Rochester  Institute of Technology.

Meritor recently invested $3.7 million  in its Plainfield, Ind. facility and during the last five years has invested  more than $8 million in its global remanufacturing operations around the world.  The company has eight remanufacturing facilities in five countries.

“It’s not hard to see the increasing  potential that remanufacturing holds for commercial vehicle suppliers,” he  said. “This is a $15.2 billion industry in the heavy-duty market and it’s  growing.”

McClure acknowledged that material  recycling gets a lot of attention for its impact on the environment, but  product re-use actually has a greater bearing both ecologically and  economically.

“The benefits of extending the life of  a part that might otherwise be scrapped are huge,” he said. “Remanufactured components  produce a carbon footprint as much as 40 percent lower than original parts,” he  said.

The company is expanding its reman  offerings globally with brake calipers, air systems, compressors, and plans to  add electronics and electronic controls and mechatronics. The company intends  to double its sales of remanufactured products by 2020.

More than 24,000 tons of  metal are recycled annually in Meritor’s remanufacturing operations worldwide,  and the company recycles 90 percent of all waste from its operations. More than  40,000 tons of cores, or original components, are processed at Meritor remanufacturing  facilities annually.

Meritor  recently received the Global Remanufacturer of the Year Award from ReMaTec magazine, a United Kingdom-based publication about the remanufacturing  industry. The honor is Meritor’s second remanufacturing-focused award. The  company won the 2010 HDRG Heavy Duty Remanufacturer of the Year.