The topic of the circular economy has long since outgrown the pure concept of sustainability and is now an integral part of any company’s economic analysis. Recent years have clearly shown that resource security in Europe has become a key issue in terms of both production security and cost stability. For this reason, there are a number of legal requirements as well as market and customer specifications that now mandate the use of recycled materials.
Furthermore, special attention is being paid to forward-looking development with regard to the economical use of resources and the recyclability of the materials used. In order to meet these requirements, both far-reaching process adjustments within the company and new technologies for evaluating the recyclability of products are necessary. Only if a product is developed in accordance with the requirements of sustainable product design during the development phase is it possible to subsequently provide recyclable products.
How can tec4U-Solutions support you in this?
1. Status & potential analysis to determine the company’s status
Description of the direct and indirect requirements situation (laws, standards, market requirements, and customer requirements)
General description of the material and design possibilities of the manufactured products to improve recyclability
General description of the production process and its possibilities for recycling production materials and reducing waste. Furthermore, the production process is examined with regard to its energy-intensive processes – with a particular focus on the CO2footprint.
The result of this status and potential analysis (workshop with the departments concerned) is a final report that reflects the specifications for the possible implementation parameters. In addition, the report contains implementation recommendations, including a time and resource plan, from which changes and adjustments can be derived.
2. Implementation support in purchasing, development, and production:
Within implementation support, it is important to take into account the various aspects of the circular economy in several areas, such as purchasing, development, production, etc., and to integrate them holistically into the company’s processes.
Development plays a very important role in the recyclability of products. The developer is responsible for ensuring that all requirements for sustainable production, use, and recycling of the product are taken into account as comprehensively as possible. To do this, the developer needs extensive and often new knowledge, as well as the appropriate tools, to ensure that the product complies with a wide range of specifications:
- Training in circular economy-optimized product design
- Support for improvement measures (connection technologies, material selection, overall design, etc.)
- Software and services to ensure material compliance (see DataCross)
- Software for evaluating the disassembly and recyclability of products, including the creation of circularity indicators (see Eco Value Hub)
- Integration of these results into company reports (e.g., sustainability reports)
Purchasing plays an equally important role in the overall spectrum of recyclability and sustainability of products, because ultimately it is purchasing that decides which items, materials, and substances are procured for the production of the end product. For this reason, it is essential to adapt both the purchasing processes and the purchasing specifications accordingly in order to achieve compliance:
- Creation of a material compliance specification as well as a specification for implementing recyclability in the product, which, as an attachment to the purchasing documents and linked in the orders, communicate compliance with the specifications to the supplier in a legally binding manner.
- Training of the purchasing department with regard to the various product features in the context of recyclable product design and the recyclability of products
Within production, the sub-products defined in development are brought together in a constructive context in the form of the overall product. This means that production has a decisive influence on the assembly capability and thus also on the disassembly capability/recyclability of the overall product. For this reason, it is necessary to raise awareness of this issue within production and to optimize the assembly process with regard to the disassembly of the product:
- Analysis of the production process with regard to the fastening technologies required for assembly, as well as the accessibility and mountability of certain sub-products.
- Creation of a concept for disassembly-friendly production and connection technologies.
- Training of production staff on the general requirements for disassembly-friendly product design, with a particular focus on connection technologies and the accessibility of sub-products. This training builds on the previous points and the experience gained from them.
- Disassembly of end products for a holistic view of the recyclability (ease of disassembly) of the products (see also Eco Value Hub).
3. Implementation of the circular economy in company processes
The specifications, as well as the necessary consideration of these in company processes and accompanying documents, require a holistic view of company processes. Here, it is important to formulate the requirements in the areas of sales, development, purchasing, and production holistically, as well as to optimize them through process and document adjustments:
Awareness workshop for all areas to provide general information on the specifications for the development and production of recyclable products
Individual workshops with the departments concerned to integrate the specifications for the development and production of recyclable products into the individual specific company processes
Development of process adjustments in the individual departments with regard to the integration of the extended specifications into the process and the accompanying documents
Closing event with all participants to present the defined process adjustments and document changes
