Remanufacturing is the most value added end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recovery strategy in which remanufacturable components referred to as cores, are returned to their next life cycle in as new-condition. Remanufacturing which involved several important steps namely disassembly, cleaning, inspection, repair, reassembly and testing are normally carried out by skilled and experienced workers. Advanced additive manufacturing technology is capable of alleviating limitations in the manual repair and restoration of end-of-life cores. However, there are several challenges in the restoration process such as limited accessibility to the inner diameter of parts, the presence of grooves, sharp edges and corners, as well as limitations in the types of materials used as filler powder and design that does not facilitate restoration using AM process. To date, there are limited reports on how products should be designed for restoration using AM and also on the capabilities of AM to conduct various kinds of restoration on ELV cores. This paper presented and discussed common modes of failure in selected remanufacturable automotive components and the challenges in repairing these components using conventional methods in a local service company. The design of the components were studied in relation to the capability of Direct Energy Deposition technique for automated repair and restoration. Further, this study should be able to pave the way for the establishment of design guidelines for ease of repair and restoration using AM for product life cycle extension.

The conventional component repair in remanufacturing involves human decision making that is influenced by several factors such as conditions of incoming cores, modes of failure, severity of damage, features and geometric complexities of cores and types of reparation required. Repair can be enhanced through automation using additive manufacturing (AM) technology. Advancements in AM have led to the development of directed energy deposition and laser cladding technology for repair of damaged parts and components. The objective of this systematic literature review is to ascertain how intelligent systems can be integrated into AM-based repair, through artificial intelligence (AI) approaches capable of supporting the nature and process of decision making during repair. The integration of intelligent systems in AM repair is expected to enhance resource utilization and repair efficiency during remanufacturing. Based on a systematic literature review of articles published during 2005–2021, the study analyses the activities of conventional repair in remanufacturing, trends in the applications of AM for repair using the current state-of-the-art technology and how AI has been deployed to facilitate repair. The study concludes with suggestions on research areas and opportunities that will further enhance the automation of component repair during remanufacturing using intelligent AM systems.