Key performance indicators for sustainable remanufacturing: A literature review and methodological framework

Remanufacturing is a key strategy in the circular economy to support sustainability and address climate change. Its adoption is a challenging process that requires analyzing several factors about products, processes, and the supply chain. Furthermore, when considering the three pillars of sustainability— economic, environmental, and social—for the integration of remanufacturing practices, the difficulty for decision-makers increases significantly. Hence, practitioners and academics have invested considerable effort in developing various key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate remanufacturing, circular economy strategies, and sustainability. However, a concurrent focus on sustainable remanufacturing (SR) is still lacking. This study employs a systematic literature review (SLR) to define sustainable remanufacturing, identify KPIs, and provide practical application guidance. The developed SLR, based on 106 Scopus documents, identified a total of 1021 KPIs related to SR. Among these indicators, 32 economic, 16 environmental, and 3 social indicators were the most frequently referenced in the literature. The SLR also identified six frequent fields of use or application for the KPIs, along with their links to smart sustainable remanufacturing. This study also presents a methodological framework focused on assessing products from disassembly, recycling, and remanufacturing in a sustainable manner, to guide decision-makers in using KPIs in the transition to SR.