Modular Product Architecture’s Decisions Support For Remanufacturing-Product Service System Synergy

Remanufacturing is identified as the most viable product end-of-life (EOL) management strategy. However, about 80% of manufactured products currently end up as wastes. Besides other benefits, the product service system (PSS) could curtail the main bottlenecks to remanufacturing namely quantity, quality, recovery time of used product, and negative perception of remanufactured products. Therefore, the integration of PSS and remanufacturing has been increasingly recommended as an enhanced product offering. However, an integration that is informed by mathematical analysis is missing. Meanwhile, the variables that bolster the performance of PSS and remanufacturing are substantially influenced by product development (PD) decisions. Among the PD strategies, modular architecture is a technique that significantly enhances product lifecycle management. Consequently, modular design is a suitable PD approach for an enhanced PSS-remanufacturing enterprise. Furthermore, it is argued that the PSS-remanufacturing initiative is poised to be a sustainable venture due to the sustainability philosophy of PSS. However, the acclaimed sustainability of PSS is flawed if a high environmental impact is associated with the production of the parts that constitute the product which is offered in PSS. Therefore, it is essential to consider the environmental implications of the production of the parts that are contained in the product architecture during PD. This research identifies that cost, core-cleaning, and product serviceability are critical variables for the success of remanufacturing and PSS. The research employs pairwise assessment methodology to evaluate the compatibility of module pairs comprehensively and obtains the modular pair compatibility indices via fuzzy system. Similarly, cost data are obtained. The study develops an optimization model that determines viable modular configuration(s) from among several alternatives in order to realize an enhanced PSS-remanufacturing business. Furthermore, the research performs lifecycle assessment (LCA) of module variants and determine the modular architecture with minimal environmental Impact. Having obtained the optimal architectures with regard to cost, core cleaning, product serviceability and environmental impacts, multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT) is engaged to collectively assess the degree of sustainability of the product architectures. The study offers analytical-based guidance to the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in making product architecture decisions in order to realize the sustainable PSS-remanufacturing enterprise

Integration of end-of-life options as a design criterion in methods and tools for ecodesign

Ecodesigning a product consists (amongst other things) in assessing what its environmental impacts will be throughout its life (that is to say from its design phase to its end of life), in order to limit them. Some tools and methods exist to (eco)design a product, just like methods that assess its environmental impacts (more often, a posteriori). But it is now well accepted that these are the early design decisions that will initiate the greatest consequences on the product’s end-of-life options and their impacts. Thus, the present work aims at analysing traditional design tools, so as to integrate end-of-life possibilities in the form of recommendations for the design step. This proposal will be illustrated by means of a wind turbine design.EcoSD networ

Green buildings and design for adaptation: strategies for renovation of the built environment

The recent EU Directives 2010/31 and 2012/27 provide standards of nearly zero energy buildings for new constructions, aiming at a better quality of the built environment through the adoption of high-performance solutions. In the near future, cities are expected to be the main engine of development while bearing the impact of population growth: new challenges such as increasing energy efficiency, reducing maintenance costs of buildings and infrastructures, facing the effects of climate change and adjusting on-going and future impacts, require smart and sustainable approaches. To improve the capability of adaptation to dynamics of transformation, buildings and districts have to increase their resilience, assumed as ‘the capacity to adapt to changing conditions and to maintain or regain functionality and vitality in the face of stress or disturbance’ (Wilson A., Building Resilience in Boston, Boston Society of Architects, 2013). This paper describes the research methodology, developed by the Department of Architecture, a research unit of Technology for Architecture, to perform the assessment of resilience of existing buildings, as well as the outcomes of its application within Bologna urban context. This methodology focuses on the design for adaptation of social housing buildings, aiming at predicting their expected main impacts (energy consumption, emissions, efficiency, urban quality and environmental sustainability) and at developing models for renovation

Academic/industry innovations for sustainable building design and refurbishment

Development and efficient dissemination of innovations for sustainable building design and refurbishment are crucial for the competitiveness of companies operating in the construction sector which faces pressure to reduce levels of carbon emissions from existing and new buildings to zero. An overwhelming majority of companies operating in the construction sector in Scotland are small to medium size enterprises (SMEs) who do not have sufficient resources in the current economic downturn to undertake research in building design, products and processes that will make buildings more sustainable. A joint project of seven Scottish universities has been initiated to support collaboration with small to medium sized enterprises in developing and disseminating innovation for sustainable building design and refurbishment. The project concept and methods used for efficient dissemination of the project outputs to SMEs across Scotland are explained. An analysis of the outputs of completed feasibility studies and the provision of academic consultancy through the project indicates the range of problems tackled as well as trends in the development and use of innovations for a more sustainable built environment in Scotland

Customer unit substation of collective heat distribution system : Benchmark of hot water comfort test standard and methodologies

The performance assessment of dwelling heating substations in terms of level of comfort is usually studied regarding temperature overshoots, stationary temperature deviations and settling time among other parameters. In fact, several standards and test methods can be found focusing on a specific target or technology. However, these methods do not always provide clear information about hot water comfort. As a result planners, developers and customers have difficulties to compare a substation product with products using other technologies for the heating of sanitary hot water. The study investigates the compatibility of already existing methods and intends to evaluate their applicability to systems where the sanitary hot water is prepared in an instantaneous way by using a heat exchanger in a district heating substation. In order to achieve that aim, a dynamic simulation model of a test setup (using TRNSYS) has been developed. The test procedures, as well as the simulation results, are described and discussed. This analysis is expected to provide the basis for an integrated performance assessment test of this kind of devices

VIVENGE. A Circular Economy Business Model Case

One of the R2π project’s missions is to identify and develop sustainable business models and guidelines that will facilitate the circular economy implementation in new entities and markets. Having those objectives in mind Vivenge was chosen as one of the case organizations because of their circular ambitions and the long-term effort Vivenge was willing to put in the pursuit of sustainability of their business model. Vivenge is a Polish family company established in 1997. Since day one of their operations they are producing items for visual identification purposes. Currently the company is a one-stop-shop for durable visual identification as they provide both outdoor (outdoor signage, small architecture) and indoor visual identification (durable indoor signage, furniture, small architecture) as well as related services (e.g. installation, logistics). The company has experienced considerable growth since its inception. Currently its clients comprise of 48 brands in 9 countries. The visual identification industry is strictly cost-oriented and could not compromise yet profitability with a costly image of being environmentally friendly. Although rebranding waste is not a media-worth issue yet, Vivenge has started The Brandbility programme as a sustainable rebranding process based of selected recommendations. Currently they employ two circular business models, first of which is “resource recovery”. In every disassembly and utilization practice Vivenge recovers the resources from the products using their own sorting facility. Part of the reclaimed parts is reused once again without the need for recycling. This process could be described as a “re-make” business model as it returns the end-of-life parts into a new overall product. A detailed look at Vivenge’s circularity assessment indicates that the company is extremely heterogeneous when it comes to implementing circular economy elements in their business model. The visual identification products’ circularity is highly graded, mainly thanks to visual products’ characteristics. This fact is counterbalanced by Vivenge’s business model itself and the system it operates in. The business model is driven by assets sale, with a focus on the sale transaction. The system lacks circularity specifically in the end-of-life phase. Nevertheless, it seems that Vivenge’s business model has important traits that make it easily adaptable to incorporate circular elements beyond what has already been done. The Brandbility programme could be modified to incorporate more circularity elements and at the same time to influence demand for the new circular products and services. The main proposed approach concerns servitizing the industry and putting more effort on the end-of-life phase of the products life cycle. Furthermore, those two objectives could be attained simultaneously. The visual identification products could be offered as a service. In this arrangement it is the producer that is responsible for the whole lifecycle of the product. That way the customer pays only for the time the visual identification product is on display (with prearranged quality). The producer would have an incentive to design with durability, quickness of assembly and disassembly and standardization on his mind. The greater extend of reuse of parts could further diminish the costs of production. This approach could be easily replicable and transferable to other entities and markets.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 73037