Applying tools for end of use outlook in design for recirculation

Circular economy is widely embraced as one major path towards sustainability goals by contributing to resource efficiency and reaching climate targets. The research need at hand lies in how to implement changes. To achieve a circular system, design for recirculation is advised when introducing new products and production processes. However, in practical applications it is a challenge to foresee the complex nature of a real circular production system with many stakeholders in a system in transition. Product systems are embedded in a use context, where the user is a key stakeholder. Collection and systematization of experience and ideas from the field is here a key. This research draws on the experiences of assessing and improve circulation in industrial practice deploying the Recirculation Strategies Decision Tree and the Eco-design-strategy-wheel. Through two case studies, practitioners have been supported in action to evaluate their products and production processes in term of circularity. Cases showed a process from current status and recirculation challenges to a more circular future state in production and end of life was scrutinized. As a result, emphasis differed between the two tools. The Eco strategy wheel supported product design phase with an engineering perspective, The Recirculation Strategies Decision Tree on end-of-life phase with a market perspective. Common for both tools was the dependency on user or operator\u27s handling. Outcome from this study is to emphasise the importance on social dimension in CE/user role in a circular product system. The interactive, user centered research with manufacturing companies is suggested for development to effectively close product loops

Causation and effectuation in the context of product development process in a large-sized established company

Effectuation represents entrepreneurial way of thinking and it is commonly applied to new ventures. Causation, as the inverse logic to effectuation, represents traditional way of thinking, and it is commonly used among large existing organizations. Recent research on effectuation shows that causation and effectuation are two relative logics, and effectuation can be extended to the existing organizations. The purpose of this research is to study relationship between causation and effectuation and to reveal how causation and effectuation influence each other during the product development process of Stage-Gate in the context of a large existing organization

The Federal Rules of Civil Settlement

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were originally based upon a straightforward model of adjudication: Resolve the merits of cases at trial and use pretrial procedures to facilitate accurate trial outcomes. Though appealing in principle, this model has little relevance today. As is now well known, the endpoint around which the Federal Rules were structured — trial — virtually never occurs. Today, the vast majority of civil cases terminate in settlement. This Article is the first to argue that the current litigation process needs a new regime of civil procedure for the world of settlement This Article begins by providing a systemic analysis of why the Federal Rules inadequately prevent settlement outcomes from being distorted relative to the underlying merits — as defined by reference to substantive law — of a given dispute. It then explains how the Federal Rules can actually amplify these distortions. Indeed, notwithstanding the well-worn adage that settlement occurs in the “shadow of the law,” scholars have shown that non-merits factors exert significant influence on settlement outcomes. However, these insights have not been considered together and combined with a systemic focus on the ways in which the influence of these factors on settlement outcomes is actually a product of the basic structural features of the Federal Rules. This Article takes these next steps to explain that the “shadow of the law” that is cast on settlements is fading. Further, this Article discusses a new phenomenon in the current litigation environment — namely, that litigants’ increased reliance on prior settlements as “precedent” for future settlement decisions may move settlement even further out of the “shadow of the law” and into the “shadow of settlement” itself. This Article then traces these problems to three foundational assumptions underlying the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, all of which have become outmoded in a world of settlement. In rethinking these assumptions, it provides a new conceptual account that contextualizes previously isolated procedural reform proposals as challenges to these foundational assumptions. It also explains how these reform efforts ought to be refined and extended with a specific view toward systematically redesigning the basic model and operation of the Federal Rules for a world of settlement. Lastly, it sets forth new proposals that seek to reorient current rules expressly toward the goal of aligning settlement outcomes with the merits of underlying claims. What emerges is a new vision of procedure — one in which the application of pretrial procedural rules do not merely facilitate trial but are designed to provide litigants with guidance regarding the merits of claims and are used to align settlement outcomes more meaningfully with the dictates of the substantive law. In describing this vision, this Article lays the groundwork for the design of a new Federal Rules of Civil Settlement

Decision support strategies for the efficient implementation of circular economy principles in process systems

Economic growth at any expense is no longer an option. Awareness of the growing human footprint is crucial to face the problems that the impoverishment of ecosystems is causing and will cause in the future. One of the key challenges to address it is moving toward approaches to manage resources in a more sustainable way. In this light, circular economy stands as a promising strategy to improve the lifetime of resources by closing material and energy loops. The Process Systems Engineering (PSE) community has been developing methods and tools for increasing efficiency in process systems since the late 1980s. These methods and tools allow the development of more sustainable products, processes, and supply chains. However, applying these tools to circular economy requires special considerations when evaluating the introduction of waste-to-resource technologies. This Thesis aims at providing a set of models and tools to support in the decision-making process of closing material cycles in process systems through the implementation of waste-to-resource technologies from the circular economy perspective. The first part provides an overview of approaches to sustainability, presents the optimization challenges that circular economy and industrial symbiosis pose to PSE, and introduces the methodological and industrial scope of the Thesis. Part two aims at assessing the environmental and economic reward that may be attained through the application of circular economy principles in the chemical industry. With this purpose, a systematic procedure based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), economic performance and Technology Readiness Level (TRL) is proposed to characterize technologies and facilitate the comparison of traditional and novel technologies. The third part describes groundwork tasks for optimization models. A methodology is presented for the systematic generation of a list of potential waste-to-resource technologies based on an ontological framework to structure the information. In addition, this part also presents a targeting approach developed to include waste transformation and resource outsourcing, so a new dimension of potential destinations for waste are explored for the extension of material recovery. Finally, part four includes the development of decision-making models at the strategic and tactical hierarchical levels. At the network level, a framework is presented for the screening of waste-to-resource technologies in the design of process networks. The most promising processing network for waste recovery is identified by selecting the most favorable waste transformation processes among a list of potential alternatives. After the network selection, an optimization model is built for the detailed synthesis of individual processes selected in the resulting network. The developed methodologies have been validated and illustrated through their application to a case study under different viewpoints in the process industry, in particular to the chemical recycling of plastic waste. Despite the low Technology Readiness Level of some chemical recycling technologies, the results of this Thesis reveal pyrolysis as a promising technology to close the loop in the polymer sector. Overall, all these positive outcomes prove the advantages of developing tools to systematically integrate waste-to-resource processes into the life cycle of materials. The adaptation to this change of perspective of the well-established methods developed by the PSE community offers a wide range of opportunities to foster circular economy and industrial symbiosis. This Thesis aims to be a step forward towards a future with more economically efficient and environmentally friendly life cycles of materials.El crecimiento económico a cualquier precio ha dejado de ser una opción viable. Tener conciencia sobre nuestra creciente huella ambiental es clave para afrontar los problemas que el empobrecimiento de los ecosistemas está causando y causará en el futuro. Uno de los desafíos clave para abordarlo es avanzar hacia técnicas que permitan una gestión de recursos más sostenible. En esta línea, la economía circular es una estrategia con gran potencial para mejorar la vida útil de los recursos mediante el cierre de ciclos de materiales y energía. Desde finales de los años ochenta, la investigación en Ingeniería de Procesos y Sistemas (PSE) ha permitido generar métodos y herramientas para el desarrollo sostenible de productos, procesos y cadenas de suministro. Sin embargo, su aplicación en economía circular requiere consideraciones especiales al evaluar la introducción de nuevas tecnologías para el reciclaje de materiales. Esta Tesis tiene como objetivo proporcionar un conjunto de modelos y herramientas para apoyar el proceso de toma de decisiones sobre el aprovechamiento de materiales a través de la lente de la economía circular mediante la implementación de tecnologías de conversión de residuos en recursos. La primera parte presenta una visión general de los enfoques de sostenibilidad, lista los desafíos que la economía circular y la simbiosis industrial plantean en PSE, e introduce el alcance metodológico e industrial de la Tesis. La segunda parte tiene como objetivo evaluar los beneficios ambientales y económicos que se pueden obtener mediante la aplicación de los principios de la economía circular en la industria química. Con este propósito, se desarrolla un método sistemático basado en el análisis del ciclo de vida, el rendimiento económico y el nivel de madurez tecnológica para caracterizar las tecnologías de recuperación y facilitar la comparación entre técnicas tradicionales y en desarrollo. La tercera parte describe las tareas previas al desarrollo de los modelos de optimización. Se presenta una metodología para la generación sistemática de una lista de posibles tecnologías de conversión de residuos en recursos utilizando en un marco ontológico para estructurar la información. Además, se expone un método para acotar la transformación de residuos y la externalización de recursos, que permite explorar una nueva dimensión de destinos potenciales para los residuos, extendiendo así el grado de recuperación de materiales. Por último, la cuarta parte incluye el desarrollo de modelos de toma de decisiones a nivel estratégico y táctico. A nivel estratégico, se presenta un marco para la detección de tecnologías de reciclaje de residuos en el diseño de redes de procesos. Tras sintetizar la red, a nivel táctico se construye un modelo de optimización para el diseño detallado de los procesos individuales seleccionados en el mismo. Las metodologías desarrolladas han sido ilustradas y validadas a través de su aplicación en un caso de estudio con diferentes perspectivas sobre el reciclaje químico de residuos plásticos. A pesar del bajo nivel de madurez tecnológica de los procesos de reciclaje químico, los resultados de esta Tesis permiten identificar el gran potencial económico y ambiental de la pirolisis de residuos plásticos para cerrar su ciclo de materiales. En conjunto, los resultados demuestran las ventajas de desarrollar herramientas para integrar sistemáticamente los procesos de reciclaje de residuos en el ciclo de vida de los materiales. La adaptación a las necesidades de este cambio de perspectiva de métodos bien establecidos en la comunidad PSE ofrece grandes oportunidades para fomentar la economía circular y la simbiosis industrial. Esta tesis pretende ser un paso adelante hacia un futuro con ciclos de vida de materiales económica y ambientalmente más eficientes

The Potential of Artificial Intelligence in Utilizing Circular Business Models : A Systematic Literature Review

Artificial intelligence is one of the fourth industrial revolution technologies that have been utilized in organizations. This research studies the potential benefits that artificial intelligence can provide to the organization in combination to circular economy. A concept of “sustainable industry 4.0” is introduced as the one concept that describes the sustainable dimension of industry 4.0 and combines circular economy and the technologies of industry 4.0. Focusing on the artificial intelligence benefits, especially in circular business models, provides the viewpoint of sustainability to artificial intelligence. Challenges and barriers to sustainable industry 4.0 and specially to utilizing artificial intelligence through circular economy and circular business models are presented. The research focuses on business-driven transition to circular business models from the linear model with the support of artificial intelligence. The aim of this research is to identify the potential of artificial intelligence and whether it provides the organization a competitive advantage. At the same time, providing knowledge of sustainable industry 4.0 and circular business models to ease the transition towards circularity for organizations. The research question of potential benefits provided by artificial intelligence technologies to the organization when transitioned to circular business models is answered by conducting a systematic literature review. From a total of 1634 articles, 11 papers were selected as primary study. The systematic literature review resulted in finding multiple benefits provided by artificial intelligence to organization while enhancing the transition to circular business models. Generally, the results provided a confirmation on how artificial intelligence can accelerate the transition to circularity through sustainable development goals and reciprocally sustainability provides a multifaceted platform for the artificial intelligence to work. Results presented how for example, artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms supported decision making is the most prominent artificial technology for the organization to be beneficial. Besides the enhanced decision making, the results presented as benefits the flexibility of AI, which helps the organization to adapt to changes in the digital age as also the AI supported foundation for strategic development that leads to more sustainable business models. The results also presented drivers for organization to utilize artificial intelligence through circular business models. Such as savings and cost reductions, increased transparency and trust from consumers, and sustainable competitive advantage is seen as drivers for the organization to utilize artificial intelligence to achieve sustainable development goals.Tekoäly on yksi neljännen teollisen vallankumouksen teknologioista, joita on hyödynnetty organisaatioissa. Tämä tutkimus tutkii mahdollisia hyötyjä, joita tekoäly yhdistettynä kiertotalouteen voi tarjota organisaatiolle. Tutkimus esittele käsitteen "kestävä teollisuus 4.0", joka kuvaa teollisuus 4.0:n kestävää ulottuvuutta sekä yhdistää kiertotalouden ja teollisuus 4.0:n teknologiat. Keskittymällä erityisesti tekoälyn tuomiin etuihin kiertotalouden liiketoimintamalleissa, tutkimus tarjoaa kestävän näkökulman tekoälylle. Kestävän teollisuus 4.0:n ja erityisesti tekoälyn hyödyntämisen haasteita ja esteitä esitellään kiertotalouden ja kiertotalouden liiketoimintamallien kautta. Tutkimus keskittyy liiketoimintalähtöiseen siirtymiseen kiertotalouden liiketoimintamalleihin nykyisestä lineaarisesta talousmallista tekoälyn tuella. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tunnistaa tekoälyn potentiaali ja todentaa tarjoaako se organisaatiolle kilpailuetua. Samalla tarjotaan tietoa kestävästä teollisuus 4.0:sta ja kiertotalouden liiketoimintamalleista helpottamaan organisaatioiden siirtymistä kiertotalouteen. Tutkimuskysymyksenä on: millaisia mahdollisia hyötyjä tekoäly voi antaa yritykselle siirryttäessä kiertotalouden liiketoimintamalleihin. Tutkimuskysymykseen vastataan systemaattisen kirjallisuuskatsauksen avulla. Yhteensä 1634 artikkelista valittiin 11 artikkelia ensisijaiseksi materiaaliksi (primary study). Systemaattisen kirjallisuuskatsauksen tuloksena löydettiin useita tekoälyn tarjoamia etuja organisaatiolle siirryttäessä kiertotalouden liiketoimintamalleihin. Yleisesti ottaen tulokset vahvistivat, kuinka tekoäly voi nopeuttaa siirtymistä kiertotalouteen kestävän kehityksen tavoitteiden kautta ja miten vastavuoroisesti kestävyys tarjoaa monipuolisen alustan tekoälylle toimia. Tulokset esittivät, kuinka esimerkiksi tekoälyn ja koneoppimisalgoritmien tukema päätöksenteko on merkittävin keinotekoinen teknologia organisaation hyödyksi. Tehostetun päätöksenteon lisäksi tulokset esittivät hyötyjä olevan muun muassa tekoälyn joustavuus, joka auttaa yritystä toimimaan digitaalisella aikakaudella muutoksiin sopeutuen sekä tekoälyn tukema perusta yrityksen strategiselle kehittämiselle kohti kestävämpiä liiketoimintamalleja. Tulokset esittelivät myös kannustimia organisaatiolle tekoälyn hyödyntämiseen kiertotalouden liiketoimintamallien kautta. Esimerkiksi säästöt ja kustannusten väheneminen, lisääntynyt läpinäkyvyys ja kuluttajien luottamus sekä kestävä kilpailuetu nähdään kannustimina organisaatiolle tekoälyn hyödyntämiseen kestävän kehityksen tavoitteiden saavuttamiseksi

Circular supply chain management: A definition and structured literature review

Circular economy is increasingly recognized as a better alternative to the dominant linear (take, make, and dispose) economic model. Circular Supply Chain Management (CSCM), which integrates the philosophy of the circular economy into supply chain management, offers a new and compelling perspective to the supply chain sustainability domain. Consequently, there is increasing research interest. However, a review of the extant literature shows that a comprehensive integrated view of CSCM is still absent in the extant literature. This prohibits a clear distinction compared to other supply chain sustainability concepts and hinders further progress of the field. In response, this research first classifies various terminologies related to supply chain sustainability and conceptualizes a unifying definition of CSCM. Using this definition as a base, it then conducts a structured literature review of 261 research articles on the current state of CSCM research. Based on the review results, the researchers call for further studies in the following directions that are important but received little or no attention: design for circularity, procurement and CSCM, biodegradable packaging, circular supply chain collaboration and coordination, drivers and barriers of CSCM, circular consumption, product liabilities and producer's responsibility, and technologies and CSCM

Product-Service development for circular economy and sustainability course

ABSTRACT: This book is an output of the ERASMUS+ KATCH_e project. KATCH_e stands for “Knowledge Alliance on Product-Service Development towards Circular Economy and Sustainability in Higher Education”. This was a 3-year project (2017-2019), aiming to address the challenge of reinforcing skills and competences in Higher Education and within the business community, in the field of product-service development for the circular economy and sustainability, with a particular focus on the construction and furniture sectors.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Supply Chain Configurations in the Circular Economy: A Systematic Literature Review

As the circular economy (CE) gains traction in literature and practice, several academic communities are opening up spaces that move away from the CE as a pure engineering concept. This systematic literature review (n = 77) analyses and discusses the fragmented body of knowledge on the meso-level of supply chains (SCs): (a) to find common ground that underpins the current implementation of the CE on this level; and (b) to identify drivers, inhibitors, and enablers from which CE SC configurations emerge. The review finds that there remain differences in CE definitions that result from claimed antecedents and scopes, resulting in distinct research streams. On the meso-level, eco-industrial parks, environmental SCs, and closed-loop SCs each face significant challenges. The latter potentially offers the largest environmental benefits but engenders radical changes for business models and exposes SCs to more risk. We firstly argue for moving away from using a prescriptive set of practices as definitions for the CE towards a set of overarching goals to allow for the inclusion of future practices and techniques. Secondly, we highlight that research going beyond the meso-level to consider the wider social and institutional environment is needed to solve current challenges

New product development system fit for innovative performance

Innovation is an imperative for long-term health and shareholder returns in firms dependent on product development. Yet, most companies struggle with the tension between creative ideation and implementation. Effectively finding new sources of revenue and improving and profiting from existing products and services reflects a product development ambidexterity challenge. Surveys were collected from 212 development team members representing 31 teams from the transportation, aerospace, and chemical sectors to understand if a new product development (NPD) system’s ambidexterity supported team level innovation performance. When NPD systems are perceived by development team users as ambidextrous structures, their combined ideation and implementation strength contributes directly to team innovation performance. This research supports past findings in contextual ambidexterity and provides a new measure for assessing the ideation and implementation characteristics of NPD systems