An increasingly dynamic and competitive market forces MRO businesses to improve on efficiency and sustainability of remanufacturing processes. Present research focus on current process states and recovery, improvement and control of process phases beyond initial design without inclusion of return quality. This research addresses a method for sustainable initial repair process design from a return quality perspective. For this purpose it introduces a return quality control model that provides repair process design guidelines. The aim of the research is to provide a foundation for automated repair process design that incorporates future states and the relation of return quality to the operational process.