European Commission supports industry in large scale implementation of Circular Manufacturing Systems- A drive towards a stable circular economy.

Resource-efficient Circular Product-Service Systems (ReCiPSS) is a research project kicked-off on June, 1st 2018.

The project is composed of two industrial large-scale demonstrators out of the Automotive and White Goods industry. The project is co-funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 776577-2.

As part of the white goods demonstrator, Gorenje gospodinjski aparati d.d., one of the leading European household appliances producer, will implement an innovative circular pay-per-wash scheme for washing machines in 4 European countries.

As part of the automotive spare parts demonstrator, the Circular Economy Solutions GmbH together with Robert Bosch GmbH will streamline the reverse logistics flow for 80,000 cores, enabling aftermarket stakeholders to close the loop by using a single service provider for reverse logistics and by simplifying the existing complex trade levels. The CoremanNet service network, well established in the European automotive aftermarket, will be the first to integrate this new services in its infrastructure.

To successfully implement the demonstrators ReCiPSS will develop further circular tools/methodologies and develop ICT platforms allowing data exchange for both cases: usage tracking or remote monitoring purposes in case of washing machines as well as value chain collaboration in case of automotive parts.

The project gathers together 13 partners from 8 countries and will be coordinated by KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden with support from a unique consortium of experts from four research and nine industrial partners.

Innovations

Business models innovations:
• Multiple life cycle business models focused on remanufacturing to capture circular value- Gorenje demonstrator
• Pay-per-use as a type of circular business model to investigate viability, consumer traction and environmental impact improvement- Gorenje demonstrator
• Business model characterization of third-party remanufacturers for fit to circular value/supply chains – Bosch Demonstrator
• Virtual modelling and simulation for circular business approaches in free/open markets – Bosch Demonstrator

Design methodology & tool innovations:
• Dedicated and generalized methods for simultaneous accounting for reuse, remanufacturing and recycling- Gorenje demonstrator
• Strategies and methods for designing user-focused product-service systems stimulating behavioural change, including innovative use interfaces- Gorenje demonstrator
• Design methods with concurrent focus on reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling in the context of circular systems- Bosch Demonstrator

Value/supply chain innovations:
• Reverse logistics associated with new remanufacturing propositions and customer segmentation- Gorenje demonstrator
• Circular network design and optimization methods for multi-reverse flows and re-distribution- Gorenje demonstrator
• Remanufacturing service design- Bosch Demonstrator
• Reverse logistics design and supply chain optimisation based on circular business approaches in free/open markets- Bosch Demonstrator

Technology innovations:
• IoT platform monitoring customer behaviour, asset usage and condition of assets (washing machines) – Gorenje demonstrator
• Novel condition-based monitoring methods using machine-learning algorithms- Gorenje demonstrator
• Part data management platform supporting standard data exchange protocols to connect trade network to the platform for cores required to service assets (cars) – Bosch Demonstrator