DIN praises Brose E-Bike for re-manufacturing process

As part of a visit to Brose E-Bike, the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) engaged in an intensive exchange with the Berlin-based bike system manufacturer on the topic of remanufacturing. Brose sets extremely demanding standards in the industry with its pioneering refurbishment of used and defective drives, according to the conclusion of the visit.

"The insights into the high-quality processes that Brose has established were very exciting, as we recently also published DIN specification 91472 on the topic of 'Remanufacturing – Quality classification for circular processes,' which describes a similar approach," said Anna Trawnitschek, project manager for circular economy at DIN.

The bike tech division of the automotive supplier launched the series production refurbishment process for its old e-bike drives in 2021 as the first manufacturer ever and has continuously optimized it since then. In the process, five predefined components from irreparable drives are refurbished: they are thoroughly inspected and cleaned before being supplemented with missing parts and assembled into a reman drive. The motors, which also have a two-year warranty, are significantly cheaper than new products and are in no way inferior to them in terms of quality. Additionally, the production of reman drives saves around 21 kilograms of CO2 compared to the use of new parts.

"We are very proud of our self-developed method, which we have already compared with the contents of DIN SPEC 91472. In the process, we also identified potential for further development of the specification. The meeting reinforces our approach and should be an incentive for even more sustainability in the entire e-bike industry," says Vincent Bahar, reconditioning project manager at Brose.

This is also emphasized by Trawnitschek, who calls for a more efficient use of resources and highlights the relevance of remanufacturing for manufacturing companies. Brose is ahead of standardization by several years with its development of a reman process. Here, one can see a good best-practice example for the industry of how small pilot projects can evolve into larger-scale concepts, according to the DIN expert.