Product take-back of consumer products is generally expensive, especially reverse logistics. In the take-back program for power tools in Germany, costs exceed revenues for recycling power tools. Systematic analysis of take-back alternatives can make take-back policies more attractive. For example, an alternative take-back system for power tools would combine profitable remanufacturing and unprofitable materials recycling. The profit from remanufacturing could cover the loss from recycling as well as the costs of reverse logistics, allowing the manufacturer a profit. Remanufacturing requires a continuous flow of returned postconsumer products. By buying back end-of-life products, firms could control the flow of returned products. We developed a model that allows us to determine the optimal amount to spend on buy-back and the optimal unit cost of reverse logistics. We can use the latter to select a suitable reverse-logistics system for end-of-life products. We apply our model to the remanufacturing take-back concept for power tools, using empirical data on the current take-back program. M anufacturers worldwide are increasingly facing responsibility for their products at end of life and must provide for collection and product recovery or proper disposal. Product take-back is a form of extended producer responsibility

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Summary Product takeback calls for sound strategies of product recovery management One such strategy‐is the reuse of the components of a product. There are consumer products such as power tools whose most expensive component, the electric motor; offers potential for reuse. Empirical evidence reveals that the lifetime of a motor often exceeds the life‐time of the product using it. This article focuses on the reuse of electric motors. For this purpose, a novel circuit was developed that measures, computes, and records parameters strongly correlated with the degradation of a motor during the use stage of the product. This circuit, called electronic data log (EDL), provides valuable insights into the usage patterns of products. The data recorded during the use stage are retrieved after product takeback as a basis for reuse decisions. In this article, the trade‐off between higher initial manufacturing cost caused by the EDL and cost savings from the reuse of used motors is analyzed. The problem of misclassifications of used motors is also addressed. It is shown that the return rate of used products is the critical parameter determining the economic efficiency of a motorreuse strategy based on EDLs. The analysis shows that the implementation of EDLs in products as an enabler for motor reuse may be associated with large cost savings

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