“Remanufacturing International Forum 2011”, co-hosted by the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and operated by the Remanufacturing Technology Key Laboratory, was held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, from April 20 to 21, 2011. Prof. Xu Binshi, CAE Member, who is also the Director of the Remanufacturing Technology Key Laboratory, served as the chair for this forum. 

Over 180 experts and scholars, engineers and entrepreneurs, also representatives from government agencies, coming from 13 countries and regions such as the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Japan and Taiwan of China, attended the forum. Participants exchanged latest research findings in the field of remanufacturing in the world in recent years, discussed innovative and hot issues in this field, analyzed the development status and trend for remanufacturing industry, discussed concrete measures to enhance international cooperation and exchanges in this field, as well as demonstrated newest remanufacturing products and technology in their respective countries. 

Pan Yunhe, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, spoke in his speech that: “In today’s world where global energy, resources and environmental problems are becoming increasingly prominent, manufacturing industry, as the world's largest resource-consumption and pollutant-emission industry, is attracting more scientists’ attention. And how to further develop green manufacturing and advanced manufacturing has become an important research topic facing scientists all over the world. Remanufacturing, as an important component of advanced manufacturing, also a kind of green manufacturing that protects the environment, can be taken as one of the essential ways to conserve resources and save energy. Remanufacturing plays an active role in supporting the development of China’s circular economy, achieve energy-conservation and emission-reduction, as well as in addressing the global climate change.” 

Xie Zhenhua, Vice Minister of the National Development and Reform Commission made a keynote speech entitled “Making Efforts to Achieve New Breakthroughs in China’s Remanufacturing Industry Development”. He pointed out that remanufacturing can be regarded as a sort of innovation in concept, innovation in approach as well as innovation in mode, for not only production and economic development, but also resources conservation and environmental protection. As a result, we should strengthen our confidence, be bold and daring enough to explore, and strive to create a new path for remanufacturing industry development with Chinese characteristics, thus make positive contributions to the acceleration of the transformation of economic development pattern, the promotion of the formation of large-scale circular economy and the construction of a resources-saving and environment-friendly society. 

CAE Member Xu Binshi made a keynote speech entitled “Developments and Prospects of Remanufacturing Engineering in China”, in which he gave an introduction to the nature and content, as well as major features of lab-based innovation of remanufacturing engineering, who also looked back on the development of remanufacturing engineering in China in the past, as well as looked ahead for the future prospects of its development. 

Representative with U.S. Department of Commerce, China's State Administration of Taxation, the Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, Zhangjiagang Municipal People’s Government, together with representatives from research institutes and academies, like Professor Rolf, Director of the Remanufacturing Center in Europe, and Professor Gindy, Vice-Chancellor of University of Nottingham, also representatives from Chinese enterprises like China FAW Group, Heavy Duty Truck Group, as well as the U.S. enterprises like Caterpillar and Cummins, delivered excellent reports on the forum. CAE Members Jin Donghan and Zhou Kesong attended and chaired part of the forum.

The forum will exert positive and profound influence on the acceleration of the development of remanufacturing industry in China in the future, and propelling China's remanufacturing industry to reach international standards as soon as possible. (By Wang Xiaojun and Shi PeiJing, July 2011; translated by Liu Chang)