A Brazilian perspective on remanufacturing

Part of: Seliger, Günther (Ed.): Innovative solutions : proceedings / 11th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing, Berlin, Germany, 23rd - 25th September, 2013. - Berlin: Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin, 2013. - ISBN 978-3-7983-2609-5 (online). - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:83-opus4-40276. - pp. 5–8.The goal of this paper is to give further information concerning the Keynote “A Brazilian perspective on sustainable manufacturing and remanufacturing” held on the 11th CIRP Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing. Therefore, this paper contains the description of the current Brazilian situation in terms of poverty, social inequalities and violence and in contrast the country’s abundance of natural resources. Thus, it is reported how this current situation is associated with sustainable development, mainly in the Brazilian industrial sector. Finally, an example of a sustainable approach to be adopted by companies within this context is given, namely remanufacturing

Barreiras e diretrizes para a implementação de um sistema de remanufatura

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção, Florianópolis, 2010Questões como a competição acirrada no mercado e o aumento da preocupação com o meio ambiente levam as empresas a buscarem novas oportunidades de expandir sua participação no mercado. Assim, alguns aspectos estão sendo abordados pelas empresas, como por exemplo o destino dos produtos no seu fim de sua vida, bem como o reaproveitamento destes por meio de estratégias de fim de vida, como a remanufatura. O fato da remanufatura conservar parte das matériasprimas e do valor acrescentado ao produto durante a sua fabricação demonstra que esta apresenta boas oportunidades para aumentar a produtividade e lucratividade nas empresas, além de seus benefícios ambientais. Porém, muitas vezes as empresas não implementam a remanufatura ou encontram dificuldades na sua implementação por falta de conhecimento e de orientações. Estas dificuldades podem ser entendidas como barreiras para implementação do Sistema de Remanufatura. Assim, o objetivo principal deste trabalho é identificar estas barreiras e propor diretrizes para a implementação deste sistema. Primeiramente, foi realizada uma revisão bibliográfica sobre remanufatura, sendo esta classificada como um sistema, tendo seus elementos caracterizados. Isto facilitou a identificação das barreiras, que foi complementada com a realização de quatro estudos de caso em empresas de remanufatura do Brasil, que também contribuíram para mostrar o estado da prática da remanufatura no país. As barreiras identificadas foram divididas em causas raízes e efeitos, por meio da aplicação do método da árvore da realidade atual, que foi validada por especialistas. Assim, conhecendo-se as barreiras, foi possível elaborar diretrizes para evitar a ocorrência das mesmas. Estas diretrizes também foram validadas por especialistas, que quantificaram, por meio da escala Likert, o quanto cada diretriz evita a ocorrência da causa relacionada a esta. Foram feitas algumas análises, sendo que algumas diretrizes se destacaram como ponto forte e outras como ponto fraco. Além disto, 85% das diretrizes obtiveram um resultado satisfatório, em relação à avaliação realizada. As conclusões mostram que os objetivos do trabalho foram atingidos, bem como contribuições e recomendações para trabalhos futuros.The high competition in the market and the environment awareness lead companies to look for new opportunities that can expand their market share. Examples of these opportunities are the appropriate destination of the products and recovery strategies (e.g., remanufacturing) in the end of their life. The fact that remanufacturing conserves part of the raw materials and the value added to the product during manufacturing demonstrate that, despite of the environmental benefits that can be achieve, it offers good opportunities to increase enterprises productivity and profitability. Nevertheless, companies seldom implement remanufacturing and when they do it, they face difficulties in its implementation due to lack of knowledge and guidance. These difficulties can be seen as barriers to implement the Remanufacturing System. The objective of this study is twofold: to identify the barriers of remanufacturing implementation and to propose guidelines to overcome them. First, it was performed a literature review on remanufacturing, which is classified as a system and characterized its elements. This facilitated the identification of barriers, which was complemented performing four case studies in remanufacturing companies in Brazil. The case studies also contributed to show the status of the practice of remanufacturing in this country. Afterwards, the barriers identified were divided into root causes and effects, by applying the method of the current reality tree, which was validated by experts. Thus, knowing the barriers, it was possible to develop guidelines to overcome them. These guidelines have also been validated by experts, which quantified, by means of a Likert scale, how much each guideline prevents the occurrence of the cause related to this. There have been some analysis and the guidelines are highlighted as strengths and others as weakness. Moreover, 85% of the guidelines had a satisfactory evaluation. The findings shown that the objectives were met and contributions and recommendations for future work were suggested

An integrated approach to remanufacturing: Model of a remanufacturing system

Remanufacturing is the process of rebuilding used products that ensures that the quality of remanufactured products is equivalent to that of new ones. Although the theme is gaining ground, it is still little explored due to lack of knowledge, the difficulty of visualizing it systemically, and implementing it effectively. Few models treat remanufacturing as a system. Most of the studies still treated remanufacturing as an isolated process, preventing it from being seen in an integrated manner. Therefore, the aim of this work is to organize the knowledge about remanufacturing, offering a vision of remanufacturing system and contributing to an integrated view about the theme. The methodology employed was a literature review, adopting the General Theory of Systems to characterize the remanufacturing system. This work consolidates and organizes the elements of this system, enabling a better understanding of remanufacturing and assisting companies in adopting the concept

Future of business models in manufacturing

In order to achieve systematic change in pursuit of sustainable manufacturing, both a strategic long-term perspective employing methods from future studies and a concrete implementation of the knowledge gained in sustainable business models are necessary. In this chapter, the concepts and exemplary methods for sustainable business model innovation are introduced with a special focus on sustainable manufacturing. Circular Economy-based business models and Product Service Systems are explained as examples of sustainable business models, along with a deduction of sustainability factors for both examples. The fruitful combination of future studies and sustainable business model development is illustrated in the example of a so-called living factory, a modular and adaptive production environment which integrates aspects of Circular Business Models and Product Service Systems

Sustainability Factors for PSS Business Models

AbstractA fundamental change in how businesses are conducted and operated is an essential factor to reach more sustainable solutions not only on the industry level but also for the entire society. In this sense, the importance of developing and implementing sustainable product service system (S-PSS) business models is increasing as the number of studies are presenting it. A S-PSS business model is an approach to achieve benefits in the three dimensions of sustainability. Through efficient resource utilization and dematerialization, this type of sustainable business model helps to embed environmental and social aspects into strategic business goals and processes while increases competitive advantage. However, most of the studies that treats PSS business models do not mention their relation to sustainability. In addition, different studies take for granted that implementing PSS leads to benefits in the three sustainability dimensions. Nonetheless, PSS business models can even have a negative effect on the environment while maintaining only economic benefits. Such contradictions and incoherencies hinder the potential of PSS business models to provide sustainability benefits and might be a barrier for its adoption. Therefore, the question this study pursues is: What are the factors that make a PSS a sustainable business model? Through literature analysis, this paper proposes the identification of a set of factors that contributes to the sustainability of PSS business models. The factors identified are investigated in an exemplary case of a bike sharing system

Method to create proposals for PSS business models

Different authors of the product-service bundle literature agree on the fact that business models are central to implement PSS successfully. However, most of the studies about PSS business models mention its importance but do not explore which content should compose such models. Furthermore, PSS business models are explored taking into account a partial view of business model dimensions. Finally, actions that lead to the creation of a new business for PSS or the adaptation of a current one are not distinguished. The goal of this study is to present a guideline to support the creation of PSS business models. Through systematic literature review and consulting with experts, the content of such models were developed. This content is organized in steps that encompass tasks, which must be performed in order to create a PSS business model. The method was already improved after application through a case study and currently is being utilized to generate a PSS business model for a bicycle sharing system. Final considerations include the weak and strong points of the method and further steps to enhance it

An integrated approach to remanufacturing: model of a remanufacturing system

Remanufacturing is the process of rebuilding used products that ensures that the quality of remanufactured products is equivalent to that of new ones. Although the theme is gaining ground, it is still little explored due to lack of knowledge, the difficulty of visualizing it systemically, and implementing it effectively. Few models treat remanufacturing as a system. Most of the studies still treated remanufacturing as an isolated process, preventing it from being seen in an integrated manner. Therefore, the aim of this work is to organize the knowledge about remanufacturing, offering a vision of remanufacturing system and contributing to an integrated view about the theme. The methodology employed was a literature review, adopting the General Theory of Systems to characterize the remanufacturing system. This work consolidates and organizes the elements of this system, enabling a better understanding of remanufacturing and assisting companies in adopting the concept.The authors would like to extend sincere thanks to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for supporting this research topic

Criação de propostas de sistema produto-serviço (SPS) no fuzzy front-end

Product-service systems (PSS), defined as a system of products, services, infrastructure, and networks that aims to satisfy customer needs, support business innovation and has the potential to lead to improved environmental performance. The adoption of PSS requires modifications in the business model of companies or even the creation of new ones. The decision to modify or create business models occurs in the fuzzy front-end through the development of proposals. In this sense, the creation of PSS proposals might assist the adoption of PSS business models in enterprises. However, companies still need support to adopt PSS business models due to three main reasons. First, most of the studies about PSS business models mention its importance but do not explore which content should compose such models. Second, PSS business models are explored considering a partial view of business model dimensions. Finally, there is a lack of methods and tools that support the adoption of PSS business models in the fuzzy front-end. Thereby, the aim of this study is to develop a method, named Configurator of PSS Proposals, to cope with these challenges and assist the creation of PSS proposals for current or new business models. By means of systematic literature review, consulting with experts and an explorative case study, the method was developed. It is composed by eight steps and each step addresses a business model dimension, e.g. value proposition. The steps encompass a range of tasks that must be performed in order to create a PSS proposal. To support carrying out the tasks, a help element is available. This help contains additional information to support the utilization of the method, such as: examples of companies that adopted PSS and hints of practices, methods and tools. To evaluate the method, it was applied through a case study in the context of a research project. The aim was to create a PSS proposal for a bicycle concept and verify whether the method reach its purpose, i.e. is able to support the creation of a PSS proposal. Final considerations include contributions and limitations of this study. An example of contribution of the method is provision of a shared knowledge about PSS between different areas of expertise. As limitation, the lack of application of the method in a real case is highlighted. Additionally, future research is addressed based mainly on the insights gathered in the second case study, e.g. the inclusion of new tasks and relations between them.Sistema produto-serviço (SPS), definido como um sistema de produtos e serviços, infraestrutura e networks e que visa aumentar a satisfação de clientes, auxilia na inovação nos negócios e tem o potencial de levar à melhoria de desempenho ambiental. A adoção de SPS requer a criação ou modificação dos modelos de negócios das empresas. A decisão de criar ou modificar um modelo de negócio ocorre no fuzzy front-end por meio da criação de propostas. Desta forma, acredita-se que criação de propostas para SPS auxilia na adoção de modelos de negócio para SPS. No entanto, empresas requerem auxilio na adoção de modelos de negócio para PSS devido a três principais motivos. Primeiro, a maioria dos estudos sobre modelos de negócio para SPS mencionam sua importância, porém não exploram o conteúdo que deve compor esses modelos. Segundo, pesquisas sobre modelos de negócio para SPS levam em consideração uma visão parcial das dimensões de modelos de negócio. Finalmente, é constatada a carência de métodos e ferramentas que auxiliem na adoção de modelos de negócio para PSS no fuzzy front-end. O objetivo desse trabalho é desenvolver um método, denominado Configurador de Propostas de SPS, que guie empresas na criação de propostas de SPS para negócios novos e existentes. Por meio de revisão sistemática de literatura, consulta com especialistas e um estudo de caso exploratório, o método foi desenvolvido. Ele é composto por oito passos e cada passo aborda uma dimensão do modelo de negócios, como por exemplo, proposição de valor. Ainda, cada passo engloba várias tarefas que devem ser executadas para que a proposta de SPS seja criada. Como suporte para realizar as tarefas, um elemento ajuda foi criado. Este elemento inclui exemplos de empresas que adotaram SPS e dicas de práticas, métodos e ferramentas. Com objetivo de avaliar o método, uma aplicação no contexto de um projeto de pesquisa foi realizada, por meio de um estudo de caso. O objetivo dessa aplicação foi criar uma proposta de SPS para um conceito de uma bicicleta e verificar se o método alcança seu propósito, que é ajudar na criação de propostas de SPS. Considerações finais incluem contribuições e limitações do estudo. Um exemplo de contribuição do método é o fornecimento de um conhecimento compartilhado sobre PSS entre diferentes áreas de conhecimento. A falta de aplicação do método em um caso real é uma das limitações deste trabalho. Adicionalmente, pesquisas futuras são sugeridas, como por exemplo, a inclusão de novas tarefas no método e novas relações entre elas, conforme sugerido pelos participantes do segundo estudo de caso

Accumulating Design Knowledge: A Mechanisms-Based Approach

We develop an empirically grounded understanding of how design knowledge accumulates over time. Drawing from theory on knowledge creation, we conceptualize accumulation along the goals and scope of knowledge in DSR as a distinct knowledge creation problem. Through two empirical studies, we theorize knowledge accumulation in DSR by unpacking (1) three knowledge creation mechanisms, and (2) explaining how their interplay forms different patterns of knowledge creation over time. We contribute a theoretical framework conducive to integrating knowledge produced through different methods by introducing the knowledge creation processes as a distinct unit of analysis in DSR and by pointing out that extant procedural models may need revision to account for the continuous knowledge creation occurring in potentially multiyear DSR projects