Circular economy‐based new products and company performance: The role of stakeholders and Industry 4.0 technologies

Author(s):  
Marco Antonio Paula Pinheiro ◽  
Daniel Jugend ◽  
Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour ◽  
Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour ◽  
Hengky Latan
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 505-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seeram Ramakrishna ◽  
Alfred Ngowi ◽  
Henk De Jager ◽  
Bankole O. Awuzie

Growing consumerism and population worldwide raises concerns about society’s sustainability aspirations. This has led to calls for concerted efforts to shift from the linear economy to a circular economy (CE), which are gaining momentum globally. CE approaches lead to a zero-waste scenario of economic growth and sustainable development. These approaches are based on semi-scientific and empirical concepts with technologies enabling 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and 6Rs (reuse, recycle, redesign, remanufacture, reduce, recover). Studies estimate that the transition to a CE would save the world in excess of a trillion dollars annually while creating new jobs, business opportunities and economic growth. The emerging industrial revolution will enhance the symbiotic pursuit of new technologies and CE to transform extant production systems and business models for sustainability. This article examines the trends, availability and readiness of fourth industrial revolution (4IR or industry 4.0) technologies (for example, Internet of Things [IoT], artificial intelligence [AI] and nanotechnology) to support and promote CE transitions within the higher education institutional context. Furthermore, it elucidates the role of universities as living laboratories for experimenting the utility of industry 4.0 technologies in driving the shift towards CE futures. The article concludes that universities should play a pivotal role in engendering CE transitions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6501
Author(s):  
Sehrish Atif ◽  
Shehzad Ahmed ◽  
Muhammad Wasim ◽  
Bassam Zeb ◽  
Zeeshan Pervez ◽  
...  

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies have been highlighted in recent literature as enablers of servitisation. Simultaneously, businesses are advised to implement a circular economy (CE) to bring new opportunities. However, it is pertinent to mention that little attention has been given to assess the role of I4.0 in adopting the CE and servitisation in a fully integrated manner. This research fills this gap by developing a conceptual framework through a systematic literature review of 139 studies investigating the relationship between the I4.0, CE, and servitisation. This study identifies the impact of these variables on a firm’s operational and financial performance (revenue stream, growth, and profitability). Our research findings advocate that adopting I4.0 technologies to the business and manufacturing model enables sustainability, energy and resource efficiency while enhancing performance and offering innovative products through smart services. Thus, firms must systematically adopt I4.0 technologies to support a CE model that creates value through servitisation. This study identifies the research gaps that are unexplored for practitioners and future researchers while providing insight into the role of I4.0 in implementing CE in the servitisation business model.


2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 1418-1424
Author(s):  
Chainarong Khaw-ngern

People around the world generate billion tons of waste. Over two billion tons of solid waste was produced in 2016 and it is estimated to rise to 3.4 billion tons by 2050. The world’s trash amount is reaching crisis and seems to getting bigger and bigger unless we take a systematic action to deal with it. The purpose of this article is to study a methodology for zero waste municipalities, examine the role of a community in addressing municipal waste and moving towards zero waste, and to evaluate how circular economy can contribute in achieving zero waste municipality. Zero waste is likely adopted as a mechanism for waste management, but circular economy is a mechanism for industries and businesses in both eliminating waste and promoting resource efficiency as products are intentionally designed and manufactured to be repurposed and recycled. The result showed that with the circular economy concept, the waste can be reduced at the first stage of prevention as products are designed to use regenerative materials and designing technic to make them last longer and repairable in the light of designing out waste. Also, waste can be getting less and less due to the practices of reuse and repair service which extends product life cycle. Recycling is another practice that contributes to waste elimination as the component parts and materials will be used for manufacturing new products.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9668
Author(s):  
Divya Tiwari ◽  
Jill Miscandlon ◽  
Ashutosh Tiwari ◽  
Geraint W. Jewell

The market for electric motors is experiencing a step-growth due to their adoption across a range of industrial sectors. This increased demand also highlights the importance of end-of-life management of electric motors and a requirement for appropriate strategies for the high value materials embedded in them. This paper aims to offer a holistic view on the circular economy research for electric motors and the role of Industry 4.0 technologies by presenting the state-of-the-art available in literature and comparing it with the industrial perspective. The literature review revealed the absence of a methodology for selecting the best end-of-life scenario for industrial electric motors. Recycling, which is an end-of-product-life strategy, was found to be the key focus area of research. Reuse, which is a better strategy in terms of waste hierarchy, was the least researched area due to lack of information about the condition and availability of returned products. In order to capture the current landscape within the UK for the repair, remanufacture and recycling of electrical machines, a structured survey of UK based companies was conducted. The survey revealed that nearly half of the companies do not undertake any repair strategies for electrical machine components; however, there was an aspiration from the respondents to migrate their companies towards more sustainable activities. The industry survey and the review of existing literature led to the identification of research trends, challenges and recommendations for future research.


2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 109-129
Author(s):  
ANDREA SABATINI ◽  
SARA BARTOLONI ◽  
GIAN LUCA GREGORI

Purpose of the paper: The Industry 4.0 paradigm entails tremendous business opportunities. However, SMEs are struggling to effectively commercialize new products embedding Industry 4.0 technologies. Therefore, the study aims at exploring how SMEs manage the commercialization of Industry 4.0 new products to provide a thorough understanding of the main issues and barriers they face. Methodology: The study adopts a single case study of an Italian SMEs. Data have been analyzed through an abductive approach. The novelty of the topic calls for an explorative study consistent with the methodologies adopted. Results: The study finds several barriers and issues related to internal and external factors. Barriers and issues might be overcome if SMEs develop external partnerships to compensate their typical scarcity of resources. The firm faced the coronavirus pandemic, which highlighted further threats hidden into the commercialization process. Research limitations: The study design is qualitative in nature, limiting the generalization of the findings. The internal perspective and the specific study contexts also offer new avenues for future. research. Practical implications: The study provides several insights to support SMEs in their commercialization processes of new Industry 4.0 technological products. The study highlights the pivotal role of strategy and planning as well as marketing activities. Originality of the paper: The study contributes to the new product commercialization and Industry 4.0 literature by unravelling potential issues and barriers that innovator SMEs might encounter when commercializing new products that fall into the Industry 4.0 paradigm. The article provides a novel perspective as the extant NPD literature focuses on start-ups or large corporations, while the Industry 4.0 literature has been neglecting the commercialization process.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 764
Author(s):  
Renato Sarc

ReWaste4.0 is an innovative and cooperative K-Project in the period 2017–2021. Through ReWaste4.0 the transformation of the non-hazardous mixed municipal and commercial waste treatment industry towards a circular economy has started by investigating and applying the new approaches of the Industry 4.0. Vision of the ReWaste4.0 is, among others, the development of treatment plants for non-hazardous waste into a “Smart Waste Factory” in which a digital communication and interconnection between material quality and machine as well as plant performance is reached. After four years of research and development, various results have been gained and the present review article summarizes, links and discuss the outputs (especially from peer-reviewed papers) of seven sub-projects, in total, within the K-project and discusses the main findings and their relevance and importance for further development of the waste treatment sector. Results are allocated into three areas, namely: contaminants in mixed waste and technical possibilities for their reduction as well as removal; secondary raw and energy materials in mixed waste and digitalization in waste characterization and treatment processes for mixed waste. The research conducted in ReWaste4.0 will be continued in ReWaste F for further development towards a particle-, sensor- and data-based circular economy in the period 2021–2025.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 3438
Author(s):  
Jorge Fernandes ◽  
João Reis ◽  
Nuno Melão ◽  
Leonor Teixeira ◽  
Marlene Amorim

This article addresses the evolution of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) in the automotive industry, exploring its contribution to a shift in the maintenance paradigm. To this end, we firstly present the concepts of predictive maintenance (PdM), condition-based maintenance (CBM), and their applications to increase awareness of why and how these concepts are revolutionizing the automotive industry. Then, we introduce the business process management (BPM) and business process model and notation (BPMN) methodologies, as well as their relationship with maintenance. Finally, we present the case study of the Renault Cacia, which is developing and implementing the concepts mentioned above.


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