Characteristic (6), part matching requirements is where the customer retains ownership of the product and requires the same unit returned. This requirement may be customer-driven, e.g., when a customer turns in a unit to be re-manufactured and then requests that same unit is returned to them. Xerox offers customer-driven returns as a part of customer service for copier re-manufacturing. A unit may also be composed of a mix of common parts and components and serial number specific parts and components. This characteristic complicates resource planning, shop floor control, and materials management.
The requirement for parts matching compels the firm to coordinate dis-assembly operations carefully with re-manufacture operations and reassembly. This requirement is common for re-manufacturers practicing a MTO product position strategy where the customer retains ownership and provides the product to be re-manufactured. A full 15% of firms reported depending solely on customer-owned assets. This dependence on customer-owned assets has the advantage of no risky core acquisitions based on projected demands. However, the major disadvantage is a very short planning horizon with very low visibility for replacement parts. Replacement parts and components are more expensive for customer-owned assets, almost 25% on average, greater than for MTS parts. Re-manufacturers report offering customer required returns as a service to customers for a variety of product types, including copiers, network equipment and avionics