Chemical Management Services from a Product Service System perspective: Experiences of fluid management services from Volvo Group metalworking plants

This thesis analyses fluid management services (FMS) in metalworking industry and determines environmental and economic outcomes of FMS as compared to traditional, in-house, fluid management. Fluid management services, or as it is often called chemical management services (CMS), mean that the suppliers of chemicals are also involved in managing and maintaining the fluids in the use phase. Usually one supplier is responsible for managing all the different fluids on a site, but the management may be restricted to some processes or fluids only

Industrial waste management within manufacturing: a comparative study of tools, policies, visions and concepts

Industrial waste is a key factor when assessing the sustainability of a manufacturing process or company. A multitude of visions, concepts, tools, and policies are used both academically and industrially to improve the environmental effect of manufacturing; a majority of these approaches have a direct bearing on industrial waste. The identified approaches have in this paper been categorised according to application area, goals, organisational entity, life cycle phase, and waste hierarchy stage; the approaches have also been assessed according to academic prevalence, semantic aspects, and overlaps. In many cases the waste management approaches have similar goals and approaches, which cause confusion and disorientation for companies aiming to synthesise their management systems to fit their waste management strategy. Thus, a study was performed on how waste management approaches can be integrated to reach the vision of zero waste in manufacturing

How could a SME supplier\u27s value chain be evaluated by circular production principles?

Increased demands for circularity in manufacturing industry put pressure on transformation in order to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. Small-and-medium-sized-enterprises (SME)\u27s have an important role, supplying value chains with material and components for larger companies and original-equipment-manufacturers (OEMs). SME suppliers\u27 net environmental footprint contributes to the OEM\u27s overall footprint, however, SME suppliers are characterized by limited resources and competence to perform circularity activities. SME net environmental footprint consists of both production related targets combined with product related targets. Circular product performance evaluation have raised a demand for easy-to-use, self-assisting tools as a complement or substitute for standardised life-cycle-assessment (LCA) methods, often considered as costly with advanced calculations, and highlights the need for the development of accessible tools and guides that support the SMEs\u27 circularity work. An established industrial tool based on previous research called the Green Performance Map (GPM), has successfully been used to assist circularity performance in production operations. This paper sets out to test the GPM tool in a new setting, addressing circularity in an extended value chain context, including three main areas; production and sourcing, product use and product end-of-life. The research presented is based on an in-depth case study with an interactive research approach and aims to explore how to reach a full value chain perspective on circularity in production. The result indicates that a joint and inclusive collaboration centred on the adapted GPM-tool, identifies and structures circular production principles as well as product use and end-of-life performance as a basis for evaluation. Findings from research study show that a comprehensive input-output tool could be used with limited competence and time, achieve increased employee awareness of circularity in the product value chain. This single case study brings a small empirical contribution to existing literature on SME circular production transformation, however it clearly shows on the urgency to evaluate circularity along the value chain in order to support a full industrial circular production transformation

Cost driven Green Kaizen in pharmaceutical production - Creating positive engagement for environmental improvements

A case study of green kaizen is presented demonstrating results of how to engage operators and management in environmental improvements on the shop-floor by utilizing a method, the Green Performance Map, in a pharmaceutical manufacturing company. The method involves identification of improvement possibilities, an input-output model for visualization (to reach consensus), and a cost saving approach for prioritization of actions (to attain force to take the step). The paper sets out to demonstrate how operationalization is needed to change behaviour, and points at the advantage of utilizing cost as a driver for environmental change

Metal and Plastic Recycling Flows in a Circular Value Chain

Material efficiency in manufacturing is an enabler of circular economy and captures value in industry through decreasing the amount of material used toproduce one unit of output, generating less waste per output and improving waste segregation and management. However, material types and fractions play an important role in successfulness of recycling initiatives. This study investigates two main fractions in automotive industry, namely, metal and plastic. For both material flows, information availability and standards and regulations are pivotal to increase segregation, optimize the collection and obtain the highest possible circulation rates with high quality of recyclables. This paper presents and compares the current information flows and standards and regulations of metals and plastics in the automotive value chain

Establishing SME–university collaboration through innovation support programmes

Purpose – The research purpose is to analyse when and how innovation support programmes (ISPs) can affectcollaboration between universities and established small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The paperspecifically considers SME’s absorptive capacity.Design/methodology/approach – A Swedish research centre is studied in the context of innovation supportand two of its SME-ISPs are examined with regards to industry–university collaboration and impact on firminnovation capabilities. Data collection and analysis are performed, using interviews, survey answers,document search and reflectional analysis to evaluate processes and effects of the centre and the programmes.Findings – A developed research centre, integrated into both academia and industry, can supporttranslational collaboration and promote SME innovation absorptive capacity. The action learning elementsand the organisational development approaches used when coaching in the ISPs contribute to the SMEsinternal absorption capacity and collaborational skills. Organising collaboration into ISPs can provide arelational path to future collaboration with universities, which, for example start with student projects.Research limitations/implications – The study, though limited to one Swedish region, adds to empiricalinnovation research as it connects industry–university collaboration and absorptive capacity to organisationallearning.Practical implications – The empirical results indicate possible long-term gains for industry anduniversities in building collaborative innovation into SME-ISPs.Originality/value – The contribution of this study pertains to the practice of innovation support forestablished SMEs with the inclusion of absorption capacity and collaborative innovation development

Opportunity discovery in initiated and emergent change requests

When a change request is raised in an engineering project an ad hoc team often forms to manage the request. Prior research shows that practitioners often view engineering changes in a risk-averse manner. As a project progresses the cost of changes increases. Therefore, avoiding changes is reasonable. However, a risk-averse perspective fails to recognize that changes might harbor discoverable and exploitable opportunities. In this research, we investigated how practitioners of ad hoc teams used practices and praxes aimed at discovering and exploiting opportunities in engineering change requests. A single case study design was employed using change request records and practitioner interviews from an engineering project. 87 engineering change requests were analyzed with regards to change triggers, time-to-decision and rejection rate. In total, 25 opportunities were discovered and then 17 exploited. Three practices and six praxes were identified, used by practitioners to discover and exploit opportunities. Our findings emphasize the importance of the informal structure of ad hoc teams, to aid in opportunity discovery. The informal structure enables cross-hierarchal discussions and draws on the proven experience of the team members. Thus, this research guides project managers and presumptive ad hoc teams in turning engineering changes into successful opportunities

Identifying and evaluating recirculation strategies for industry in the nordic countries

The manufacturing industry in the Nordic countries aims to include closing product and material loops to recover values in their circular economy strategies. Recirculating strategies for products and materials are required for existing products that are part of the stock and are also anticipated to be aligned with products designed for circularity and circular business models in the future. Options to capture value of discarded products are diverse and include reuse, remanufacturing and material recycling. The Circular Economy Integration in the Nordic Industry for enhanced sustain-ability and competitiveness (CIRCit) project developed a framework to guide decision makers in the industry on how to identify suitable treatments and subsequent use at the end of use or end of life of a product and how to select among different options. Factors considered in the assessment include technical feasibility, necessary efforts, networks of business partners, legal implications and overall sustainability aspects. Our empirical studies show great support for decision-makers in the value recovery of different products with different complexity levels. It is also concluded that the properties of products at their end of use are the main drivers behind selecting a proper recirculation strategy. This study contributes with an empirical evaluation and a consistent terminology framework for recirculation options. The general setup is relevant for the Nordic countries

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

Synthesis of Universal Workplace Design in Assembly-A Case Study

To form an inclusive and sustainable society, workplace design that can be used by different individuals, regardless of sex, language, background, and body function variations is needed. Such workplaces can also give economic benefits to companies if they provide a more accessible, safer, more productive and error proofed working environment. This aim of this paper is to evaluate a universal design concept developed at a company aiming at providing an \u27easy job\u27-workplace design for manual industrial operations. The study investigated key factors from 8 interviews and compared it to theoretical constructs such as WHO\u27s ICIDH-2. A synthesis was formed that included the following factors: personal factors, environmental factors and outcomes of universal work. The study has resulted in new insights regarding universal workplace design and the vision is that the synthesis can be used by other production companies that want to increase the universal design in assembly work