Production planning and control for remanufacturing : Understanding uncertainty, planning environments, and managerial decision-making

Licentiate thesis, 2026

Abstract

The transition toward a circular economy has increased interest in remanufacturing as a strategy for extending product lifecycle and reducing resource consumption. Remanufacturing depends on used products to start production, creating uncertainties related to the timing, quantity, and condition of product returns. These uncertainties complicate production planning and control (PPC) and challenge many assumptions underlying conventional planning approaches. Although previous research has made substantial contributions through analytical models and optimization methods, limited attention has been devoted to how remanufacturing firms plan and control production in practice and how managers make planning decisions in such planning environments.
     The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how remanufacturing firms plan and control production. Specifically, the thesis examines the challenges faced in PPC for remanufacturing, how remanufacturing planning environment shapes PPC approaches, and how managers in remanufacturing planning environments make and communicate PPC-related decisions across strategic, tactical, and operational managerial decision-making levels. To address these issues, the thesis draws on research in PPC, remanufacturing, contingency theory, and judgment and decision-making theory.
    The thesis adopts a sequential multi-study research design combining quantitative and qualitative methods. The thesis comprises three appended papers. The first paper uses survey data collected from remanufacturing firms in Europe and United States of America to explore PPC challenges. The second paper employs a multiple-case study to investigate how planning environments shape PPC approaches. The third paper also adopts a multiple-case study design but investigates how managers across strategic, tactical, and operational decision-making levels make and communicate PPC-related decisions. These three papers provide an empirically grounded understanding of PPC in remanufacturing environments.
   The findings show that uncertainty remains a characteristic of remanufacturing environment and continues to complicate planning and control activities. The thesis further shows that PPC approaches vary across planning environments and are shaped by how firms respond to uncertainty. In addition, the thesis identifies aspects of how managers make and communicate PPC-related decisions when the information needed for those decisions is unavailable or incomplete.
     This thesis contributes to the literature by extending the understanding of PPC in remanufacturing beyond analytical and optimization models. It shows that planning and control depend not only on technical issues but also on developing planning processes and capabilities, contextual conditions, and managerial decision-making processes. By integrating these perspectives, the thesis provides a more comprehensive understanding of how remanufacturing firms plan and control production.