Creating sustainable value through remanufacturing: Three industry cases

Abstract

Remanufacturing is proposed as a strategy to develop circular business models to manage resource loops in the future circular economy (CE). If remanufacturing is to occupy a central role in the CE it needs to be considered from a series of complementary and synchronous business activities. Thus, the aim of this article is to investigate how such an integrated perspective can drive sustainable value creation within the context of remanufacturing business models. This is explored through three business cases: Philips Healthcare Refurbished Systems, Siemens Wind Power, and Orangebox. This 'integrated view' considers remanufacturing activities according to: product design and development; remanufacturing processes; value chain design and management; and marketing and consumer/user relationship. The research question asks, 'Can an integrated perspective drive sustainable value creation in remanufacturing contexts?' To answer this, the research maps a set of triple-bottom-line indicators across the chosen cases. The work contributes to the field by mapping a set of business mechanisms (e.g. warranties, service approaches, partnerships) that can be utilised to co-develop necessary activities in unison for a successful remanufacturing approach. In certain cases, remanufacturing has the potential to add to the triple-bottom-line through such an integrated approach. However, each of the firms are investing in remanufacturing predominantly for profitability and market protection measures and therefore environmental and social components of the triple-bottom-line must be proactively considered.

Circular economy business models: The state of research and avenues ahead

“…Driving sustainable value creation within the context of remanufacturing business models (Jensen et al, 2019).…”

“…This category examines the emerging topics addressing designing, manufacturing, marketing, offering products and/or services in the circular economy, as well as the entities related to them such as small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs. In the area of production and operations management, scholars have specifically investigated remanufacturing business models and how they can drive sustainable value creation (Jensen, Prendeville, Bocken, & Peck, 2019), as well as how cleaner production practices can foster the implementation of circular economy principles (Sousa‐Zomer, Magalhaes, Zancul, Campos, & Cauchick‐Miguel, 2018). Moreover, there is an increasing interest in the role of product design for circular business models related to a shift from “selling” to “offering” products in the circular economy (Moreno, De los Rios, Rowe, & Charnley, 2016; Sumter, Bakker, & Balkenende, 2018).…”

“…Driving sustainable value creation within the context of remanufacturing business models (Jensen et al, 2019). Exploration of cleaner production principles and practices in fostering circular economy adoption (Sousa-Zomer et al, 2018).…”

Standardization Framework for Sustainability from Circular Economy 4.0

“…These can be classified as actions oriented either towards effects or towards causes on economic, social, and environmental aspects. Among the actions oriented towards effects, the most representative techniques include life cycle assessment (LCA) [5,6], remanufacturing [7], recycling [8], etc. About second actions are those which are oriented to causes, such as, cradle to cradle (C2C) [9] or biodesign [10].…”

Sistema De Baixo Custo Para Captação E Potabilização De Água Pluvial Para Instalação Em Cisternas

“…Na economia circular, as empresas não enxergam sua mercadoria como produtos que serão vendidos e esquecidos, mas como oportunidades de criação de valor contínuo (JENSEN et al, 2019). A problemática relacionada aos resíduos é uma questão de comportamento, sendo, desde a década passada, uma questão que superava os problemas do aumento populacional.…”