​​Brose wins Altair Enlighten Award for its e-bike drive remanufacturing process​

On 1 August global technology firm Altair in Michigan/USA presented this year’s Altair Enlighten Award to automotive industry companies that have achieved the greatest sustainability and lightweighting advancements. Brose won second place in the category “Sustainable Process” with its e-bike division’s remanufacturing program. The family-owned company is the first e-bike drive manufacturer ever to make it possible to reuse individual assemblies and components from old drives with its “Reman Drive”.

The ‘Reman Drive’ enables us to give components a new life, not just as replacement parts, but as fully functional products. We also aim to use it to increase confidence in remanufactured products, as this is the only way we will be able to achieve our ultimate goal of a greener, more sustainable future, explains Project Manager Vincent Bahar from Brose Antriebstechnik. I’m extremely proud of our program, which is why I’m so excited about this award from Altair. It’s certain to boost confidence in our project and in a more sustainable future. The company inspects components from irreparable drives for suitability and adds missing parts to create the remanufactured drive. The replacement motors are available as after-sale products for all drive versions on the magnesium and aluminum platforms. Remanufacturing saves a minimum of 21 kilograms of CO2 equivalents compared to series drives while simultaneously minimizing the volume of waste produced.

Altair has presented this award to key players in the automotive industry for eleven years. An independent panel of experts, headed by the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), evaluated all of the projects submitted in six different categories. The “Sustainable Process” category recognizes process-enabling emission reduction, material reuse/recycling and water conservation advances during manufacturing or engineering phases. Brose received the award for its e-bike division’s drive remanufacturing process. The winners of the Enlighten Award showcase the latest revolutionary technologies and approaches that reduce carbon footprint, minimize waste, and maximize renewable energy, explains Richard Yen, Senior Vice President and Global Industry Verticals and Sales Enablement Team at Altair.