Design, health and circular economy.

Products generate waste in a linear value production model design. New sustainable design methods focus on using bio-materials and re-manufacturing processes to decrease waste and impact on the environment. Circular Economy models are sustainable because they aim to keep the value of a product at the end of their useful life. They reintegrate products in the chain instead of becoming waste and lose their value. However, circular models require an understanding of the big picture of business model ecosystems on what, who and how everyone closes the loop. Furthermore, the Internet of Things in product-service systems (PSS) requires the integration of diverse perspectives in their conception and design. The objective of this thesis is to find a way to create circular PSS concepts in circular economy models through a collaborative design approach. The approach extracts the expertise of other areas to understand the real needs of all stakeholders to close the gap between design and business perspectives. It aims to understand what value means for each stakeholder, the implications of moving towards circular economy models, the impact on the product architecture, the technological trends opportunities and the experiences that the users and customers desire. The study case for the thesis focuses on chronic diseases in Finland, especially for ischemic heart diseases which are the leading cause of deaths triggered by a cardiac arrest. The cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and the automated external defibrillator (AED) are fundamental to save a life. Methods, tools and principles of PSS and circular models, combined with Human-Centred Design (HCD) approaches, identify a problem space and possible solutions for circularity and usability in the study case. The limits of this research are that the time scope for the project only reached the design concept stage, without the implications of standards for medical equipment for a future product development stage. The outcomes of the research are insights for CPR and AED as a product-service system in circular economy models. However, the principal value is a new canvas that analyses a product -from the perspectives of design, business and technology- to map all the implications required to transform a product into a PSS in a circular model; integrating experts in a collaborative workshop to validate the model. The complexity of product-service systems in circular models resides in their natural transdisciplinarity. The number of stakeholders and their expertise surpass the knowledge of design to understand their processes. Alongside the contribution of the new canvas, the main conclusion for this work is that transdisciplinary projects could be led through the collaborative design approach under two conditions. The first condition is when the designer understands the meanings of concepts across disciplines, and secondly when the project has access to all the critical stakeholders in the project’s ecosystem. Thus, the need for transdisciplinary tools for design approaches requires further analysis and development

Product ecodesign and materials: current status and future prospects

The aim of this paper is to discuss the current status of ecodesign in the industry and its future implications for materials. There is today more and more focus on the environmental impacts of products during their whole life cycle. In particular, ecodesign aims at integrating environmental aspects during the product's design process as any other criterion, in order to reduce the life cycle impacts. Although a lot of product environmental impact assessment and Design for Environment tools already exist, environmental aspects are unfortunately rarely routinely integrated into product development process in the industry. This is mainly due to the fact that current ecodesign tools are little adapted to designers' practices, requirements and competencies. After the sequential and DfX paradigms, design of products is today maturing into Integrated Design, where multiple points of views and expertise have to be considered at the same time to progressively define the product

The influencing mechanism of manufacturing scene change on process domain knowledge reuse

It is necessary for a enterprise to reuse outside process domain knowledge to develop intelligent manufacturing technology. The key factors influencing knowledge reuse in digital manufacturing scene are manufacturing activities and PPR (Products, Processes and Resources) related to knowledge modeling, enterprise and integrated systems related to knowledge utilizing. How these factors influence knowledge modeling and utilizing is analyzed. Process domain knowledge reuse across the enterprises consists of knowledge reconfiguration and integrated application with CAx systems. The module-based knowledge model and loosely-coupled integration application of process domain knowledge are proposed. The aircraft sheet metal process domain knowledge reuse is taken as an example, and it shows that the knowledge reuse process can be made flexible and rapid

A BIM-based PSS approach for the management of maintenance operations of building equipment

The service-centered economy has grown considerably in the last few years, shifting from product-based solutions towards service centered offerings, i.e., Product-Service System (PSS) solutions. Such an approach is also emerging in the context of building equipment, where maintenance activities play a fundamental role in facility management. In this field, Building Information Modeling (BIM) based tools are diffusely used to improve the performances of facility management. However, few studies have addressed the above issues while considering a shift from product-based approaches in favor of more advanced servitization models. The study aims at integrating BIM based approaches in a PSS context for the improvement of the management of maintenance operations of building equipment. A general framework for maintenance management has been developed, merging the implementation of the PSS components in a BIM model for the definition of maintenance management. A first application of this methodology to a real case study concerning the elevators of an existing building has shown the efficacy of the proposed approach. The study highlighted the benefits that can be achieved, especially in terms of reduced periods of equipment unavailability, reduced costs and augmented customer satisfaction, while enhancing the information exchange between the PSS actors. Hence, although further research is still needed for its validation, the proposed approach can offer practical insights for the development of promising BIM-based PSS solutions for facility management in the construction industry

Eco‐Holonic 4.0 Circular Business Model to Conceptualize Sustainable Value Chain Towards Digital Transition

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize a circular business model based on an Eco-Holonic Architecture, through the integration of circular economy and holonic principles. A conceptual model is developed to manage the complexity of integrating circular economy principles, digital transformation, and tools and frameworks for sustainability into business models. The proposed architecture is multilevel and multiscale in order to achieve the instantiation of the sustainable value chain in any territory. The architecture promotes the incorporation of circular economy and holonic principles into new circular business models. This integrated perspective of business model can support the design and upgrade of the manufacturing companies in their respective industrial sectors. The conceptual model proposed is based on activity theory that considers the interactions between technical and social systems and allows the mitigation of the metabolic rift that exists between natural and social metabolism. This study contributes to the existing literature on circular economy, circular business models and activity theory by considering holonic paradigm concerns, which have not been explored yet. This research also offers a unique holonic architecture of circular business model by considering different levels, relationships, dynamism and contextualization (territory) aspects

Integration of decision support systems to improve decision support performance

Decision support system (DSS) is a well-established research and development area. Traditional isolated, stand-alone DSS has been recently facing new challenges. In order to improve the performance of DSS to meet the challenges, research has been actively carried out to develop integrated decision support systems (IDSS). This paper reviews the current research efforts with regard to the development of IDSS. The focus of the paper is on the integration aspect for IDSS through multiple perspectives, and the technologies that support this integration. More than 100 papers and software systems are discussed. Current research efforts and the development status of IDSS are explained, compared and classified. In addition, future trends and challenges in integration are outlined. The paper concludes that by addressing integration, better support will be provided to decision makers, with the expectation of both better decisions and improved decision making processes

Standardization Framework for Sustainability from Circular Economy 4.0

The circular economy (CE) is widely known as a way to implement and achieve sustainability, mainly due to its contribution towards the separation of biological and technical nutrients under cyclic industrial metabolism. The incorporation of the principles of the CE in the links of the value chain of the various sectors of the economy strives to ensure circularity, safety, and efficiency. The framework proposed is aligned with the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development regarding the orientation towards the mitigation and regeneration of the metabolic rift by considering a double perspective. Firstly, it strives to conceptualize the CE as a paradigm of sustainability. Its principles are established, and its techniques and tools are organized into two frameworks oriented towards causes (cradle to cradle) and effects (life cycle assessment), and these are structured under the three pillars of sustainability, for their projection within the proposed framework. Secondly, a framework is established to facilitate the implementation of the CE with the use of standards, which constitute the requirements, tools, and indicators to control each life cycle phase, and of key enabling technologies (KETs) that add circular value 4.0 to the socio-ecological transition

Integrating IVHM and asset design

Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) describes a set of capabilities that enable effective and efficient maintenance and operation of the target vehicle. It accounts for the collecting of data, conducting analysis, and supporting the decision-making process for sustainment and operation. The design of IVHM systems endeavours to account for all causes of failure in a disciplined, systems engineering, manner. With industry striving to reduce through-life cost, IVHM is a powerful tool to give forewarning of impending failure and hence control over the outcome. Benefits have been realised from this approach across a number of different sectors but, hindering our ability to realise further benefit from this maturing technology, is the fact that IVHM is still treated as added on to the design of the asset, rather than being a sub-system in its own right, fully integrated with the asset design. The elevation and integration of IVHM in this way will enable architectures to be chosen that accommodate health ready sub-systems from the supply chain and design trade-offs to be made, to name but two major benefits. Barriers to IVHM being integrated with the asset design are examined in this paper. The paper presents progress in overcoming them, and suggests potential solutions for those that remain. It addresses the IVHM system design from a systems engineering perspective and the integration with the asset design will be described within an industrial design process

Visualising product-service system business models

Copyright © 2014. Copyright in each paper in this conference’s proceedings is the property of the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copies of these works for purposes relevant to the above conference, provided that the author(s), source and copyright notice are included on each copy. For other uses, including extended quotation, please contact the author(s).The paper addresses the issue of how to visualise innovative business models at various stages of the design and development process. The focus is on a particular type of business model, defined Product-Service Systems (PSSs), characterised by an integrated product-service offering, but can be generalised to other business model innovations. The paper presents a visualisation system based on a formalised business model ontology and a set of visualisation tools, and discusses how it can be used to enhance internal and external communication and improve dialogue and co-design activities inside the company and with external stakeholders