The circular economy (CE) can drive sustainability. For companies to select and implement circularity strategies, they need to evaluate and compare the performance of these strategies both in terms of progress towards CE but also based on their feasibility and business outcomes. However, evaluation methods for circularity strategies at the product level are lacking. Therefore, this research proposes a multi-criteria evaluation method of circularity strategies at the product level which can be used by business decision-makers to evaluate and compare the initial business of the company, transformative and future circularity strategies. This multi-criteria evaluation method aims to assist business decision-makers to identify a preferred strategy by linking together a wide variety of criteria, i.e., environmental, economic, social, legislative, technical, and business, as well as by proposing relevant indicators that take into consideration, where possible, the life cycle perspective. It also allows for flexibility so that criteria, sub-criteria, and weighing factors can be altered by the business decision-makers to fit the needs of their specific case or product. Two illustrative examples based on case companies are presented to verify and illustrate the proposed method.

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Companies must enhance total maintenance effectiveness to staycompetitive, focusing on both digitalization and basic maintenance procedures.Digitalization offers technologies for data-driven decision-making, but manymaintenance decisions still lack a factual basis. Prioritizing efficiency andeffectiveness require analyzing equipment history, facilitated by usingComputerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS). However, CMMS dataoften contains unstructured free-text, leading to manual analysis, which is resourceintensiveand reactive, focusing on short time periods and specific equipment. Twoapproaches are available to solve the issue: minimizing free-text entries or usingadvanced methods for processing them. Free-text allows detailed descriptions butmay lack completeness, while structured reporting aids automated analysis but maylimit fault description richness. As knowledge and experience are vital assets forcompanies this research uses a hybrid approach by combining Natural LanguageProcessing with domain specific ontology and Large Language Models to extractinformation from free-text entries, enabling the possibility of real-time analysis e.g.,identifying recurring failure and knowledge sharing across global sites.

This document reports on the results of work packages (WPs) 2.1 and 2.2 in Project 2 (Product and Service Design Support for REES, i.e. resource efficient and effective solutions) of the Mistra REES program (www.mistrarees.se). WP 2.1 and WP 2.2 aim at documenting current use of design support and deriving requirements for design support, respectively. The document only covers results from interviews with companies, while the other reports will cover results, for instance, from scientific literature review (ISRN: LIU‐IEI‐RR‐‐17/00264—SE) and the design session with industry partners in the Mistra REES consortium. The results of this research into industrial practice will be a foundation for WP 2.3, which aims at developing new design support for designers.

The document describes current use (i.e., “as‐is” status) of product and service design support when designing REES, as well as requirements for product and service design support for REES (i.e., information soon‐to‐be). Both of these are results of analysis in different phases of an early phase of design for REES. Those phases consist of requirement specification, conceptual design, and analysis and evaluation, which can be ordered temporally along the design process.

Eight Sweden‐based companies that provide products and services in different sectors and work on resource efficiency participated in the interviews. They vary in terms of the size: from small to large. 24 individual interviews were conducted in total with the length being between 54 and 117 minutes (with two additional shorter follow up interviews via phone/skype). The 24 interviews were carried out all with face to face between May and July, 2016. The result from each company is described per section in this report, while cross‐company analysis will be made in a separate document.

This document reports on the results of work packages (WPs) 2.1 and 2.2 in Project 2 (Product and Service Design Methods for REES, i.e. resource efficient and effective solutions) of the Mistra REES program (www.mistrarees.se). WP 2.1 and WP 2.2 aim at documenting current use of design methods and deriving requirements for design methods, respectively. The document only covers results from the scientific literature review, while other reports to be developed will cover results, for instance, from the interview study and the design session with industry partners in the Mistra REES consortium. The results of the literature review will be a foundation for WP 2.3, which aims at developing new design methods. Note that methods here include frameworks, tools, and support for designers.

The document describes current use (i.e., “as‐is” status) of product and service design methods when designing REES, as well as requirements for product and service design methods for REES (i.e., information soon‐to‐be). Both of these are results of analysis in different phases of an early phase of design for REES. Those phases consist of requirement specification, conceptual design, and analysis and evaluation, which can be ordered temporally along the design process.

From the overall analysis, found is a lack of insights about methods for designing REES, although potentially useful methods are available. This means advancement of knowledge is insufficient for industry within the subject, which is relatively new. It may also mean the developed methods are not precisely according to the needs of companies. This shows a high potential of developing new methods in the rest of the project.

More specifically, in the requirement specification, the literature shows that potentially useful methods include QFD (Quality Function Deployment), the Taguchi method, the Kano model, and data mining, among others. In the conceptual design, numerous methods exist, and most of them were developed in an older context, where REES was not as relevant as today. Those methods include DfX methods (X denotes cost, assembly, etc.), the functional block diagram, the checklist, morphological analysis, and the Fishbone Diagram. Only a few seem to be used widely in industry today. In the analysis and evaluation, available methods include Lifecycle Simulation, Lifecycle Costing, multi‐criteria decision making, and the Analytical Hierarchy Process. Most of the methods or tools available specialise in one area. This is a problem when developing an integrated offering of products and services, because designers need to have a holistic perspective for that.

Regarding requirements for methods to be developed, the authors analysed literature as follows. In the requirement specification, requirements originating from multiple aspects and actors need to be taken into account. Since an enormous amount of data and information can be collected from products and by technologies implemented today, a huge opportunity is presented for enhancing requirement specification. Yet, there seems to be little insights to take this opportunity. In conceptual design, it is important to identify and involve relevant actors as well as their requirements according to a number of scientific reports. Especially, interaction between the relevant actors seems to be critical to be implemented. In analysis and evaluation, various pieces of earlier research works recommend different features to be implemented in methods. These features include visualization of information and information flows, graphical user interface, multiple users’ participation, and ability to handle environmental information, uncertainty and risk.

Product/Service System (PSS) is a different way of fulfilling customer needs by providing a bundle of products and services. PSS is by nature an interdisciplinary field of research that needs collaboration across disciplines. This research paper investigates how much interdisciplinary research has been carried in terms of insights used between two important disciplines, namely, Engineering Design and Industrial Marketing. The results show that few insights have been used across disciplines which shows a gap for further research.

Due to government policies and regulations as well as customer and societal demands, organizations around the world are looking for ways to manage their economic, environmental and social sustainability. One of the most frequently used standards for organizations seeking to manage their environmental responsibilities is ISO 14001. This framework, however, is generic because it can be used by any organization irrespective of sector, activity or core values. Therefore, implementation of generic guidelines might result in the use of alternative tools that respond better to specific organizational needs and that provide outcomes that can be useful for decision-making. Through case study methodology, this paper shows how Volvo Group, a world-leading producer of transport solutions, developed an internal environmental evaluation tool called Environmental Screening (EnvS) to improve the environmental performance of its solutions.

In Europe there is a common vision to transform the economy into a sustainable one by 2050 which among other changes, calls for companies to address their offerings in a more resource-efficient manner. Therefore, efforts to provide design support namely, methods, guidelines and tools to specifically address natural resources and impact of products and services have been increasing. Moreover, companies of all sizes should integrate environmental concerns as early as possible to select profitable and environmentally sound offerings. However, knowledge of the analysis and evaluation of resourceefficient offerings seems currently insufficient especially with regards to similarities and differences among different company sizes. In this paper, the study of eight case companies: 3 large companies and 5 SMEs, shows how industry addresses the analysis and evaluation of their offerings. Commonalities among SMEs and large companies include decisions made by strategic or managerial boards, the use of mock-ups and project management skills, among others. These findings could help academics in providing relevant, useful and usable support to industry.

In an economic paradigm where companies think that more is better and resources are considered infinite, waste, pollution, and environmental degradation are often the result. This can, in turn, be addressed by companies focusing on offerings that are both effective and resource efficient. However, this type of offerings can be more uncertain and complex due to multiple factors such as multiple actors and conflicting objectives taking place at once. Dedicated design support for the relatively new offerings will be helpful for designers in industry. Large and small companies could benefit from the dedicated design support to successfully realize these types of offerings. However, the type of support they might need is not clear. Differences and similarities among large and small companies could guide researchers in providing more reliable support. Therefore, the aim of this research is to present differences and similarities of design support needs among large companies and small and medium enterprises. This is carried out through semi-structured interviews and follow-up meetings. The results show that differences include a formal product realization process for large companies and an informal or no process for smaller ones. Similarities point at design support for better communication and management of their offerings with regard to lead time as well as lifecycle and strategic thinking for decision making. The conclusions highlight the importance for researchers to provide design support that purposefully addresses specific needs.

In the field of Ecodesign, in which the answers to the questions of “why”, “what”, and “how” have been largely studied in the past, the lack of implementation in industry remains an issue. The literature lacks insights into the “how” question combined with “who” for ecodesign implementation. The aim of this paper is to propose a concept for a knowledge holder, called a lifecycle engineer, with specific knowledge that can support a team or organization in the ecodesign process for its more effective implementation. This is achieved first by a literature review using a set of constructs derived from theories of engineering design and transdisciplinary research. Second, by consulting the results from the literature review and the proposal of a lifecycle engineer, through semi-structured interviews, with practitioners from the manufacturing sector. The analysis of the semi-structured interviews shows that the relevant knowledge includes lifecycle analysis, materials and their selection, energy efficiency, legislation, and management. This knowledge was complemented by skills that practitioners thought of as relevant for effective implementation. Moreover, the proposal of a lifecycle engineer, according to most practitioners, was found to be useful. The advantages of a lifecycle engineer include having more focus on ecodesign and the availability of information and staff to drive changes. Caveats include clear benefits against investment for the company, especially for smaller ones, and enough tasks for full-time employment.

This report is a part of deliverables from theMistraREES1programme (www.mistrarees.se) work package (WP)2.1and 2.2 of Project 2 (the project concerning design). The objective of the report is to identify and describe methods and tools used as design support for REES in the Swedish manufacturing industry.

This report presents the results of an analysisto identify different methods and tools used during the early stages of design for REES in manufacturing companies in Sweden. The methods are classified in “as-is”and “to-be”stages. The as-ismethods are what are currently used, and the to-bemethods are what they would like to have in place in the future. The compilation of methods and tools also included other sources of information partly to corroborate results from interviews. These other sources included meeting minutes and internal reports, when available. Other sources are also included from two publications in the academic literature from López-Mesa & Bylund (2011)and Nilsson et al. (2018).

This report presents the results of a survey carried out during 2017-2018 among 11 different companies as part of the REES programme (www.mistrarees.se) work package (WP) 2.2 of Project 2 (the project concerning design in the programme). The objective of the survey was to identify the most important requirements for design support that is being developed for REES designers in the manufacturing industry. The survey comprises results from a total of 25 participants from 5 SMEs and 6 large companies, which included 8 participants from SMEs and 17 from large companies. This classification was made according to the EU commission (2015) definition of SMEs (< 250 employees and ≤ EUR 50 million in annual turnover). The results presented are divided into Section 1 where an overview of the survey and the method is presented and section 2 results, where consolidated data and comparison between large companies and SMES is provided.

Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPS2) have been increasingly researched and practiced in a variety of fields and sectors. Nevertheless, such solutions are not as significantly implemented as expected by the CIRP keynote in 2010: it is not a dominant business of manufacturing companies today despite their economic and environmental advantages. One reason for this delay is assumed to be that the initial efforts were mainly on business and service when design was an afterthought. The promising digital technologies that have become easily implementable in practice will in the next years facilitate design and implementation of IPS(2 )smartly to satisfy users and contribute to sustainability. This keynote analyses literature and practice in the last decade, aiming to propose the main characteristics of IPS2 of the future and design processes adequate for IPS2. The design process of both production systems for sustainability and high-value systems for sustainable development goals may need to be supported differently than today. The list of recommendations for future research on IPS2 design is provided at the end of the paper. (C) 2022 CIRP. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The diligent use of capital of all forms contributes to sustainability. In fact, capital employment is a common factor in sustainability research and in the practice of sustainability management.  For example, capital usage is included in research in environmental sustainability in the context of sustainable consumption. Product/Service Systems (PSS), which includes product sharing as one concrete form, has been addressed in research on that context. However, virtually no literature provides concrete, theory-based methods for quantifying the effects of sharing products. The goal of this paper is to describe the potential contribution of portfolio theory in order to quantify the effects and optimize the employment of capital in a theoretical and quantitative manner in the context of sustainability. Practices tied to the prescriptions of portfolio theory can contribute to environmental sustainability. The core perspective can be summarized as follows: the pooled, portfolio approach to asset management yields a reduction in assets employed and used relative to the volume of demanded resources used for need fulfillment.

To reach this goal, the paper first provides a brief literature review from the “finance side” of literature. Then, the “engineering side” literature offers a few examples of others who have applied the prescriptions of portfolio theory to “engineering” application.

After that, it provides an overview of the core issues and implications of portfolio theory, and develops some ideas to support application of portfolio theory. The provided insights illustrate how portfolio principles applied outside the arena of investments can yield benefits, including the fulfillment of needs with the least resource used – a core principle in sustainability. In particular, the “pooling” of assets/services to meet uncertain demands from different users of an asset/service pool may yield benefit from diversification effects.

Furthermore, the paper offers additional avenues for future research. It describes how this special application of portfolio theory outside the realm of finance can yield benefits that positively affect the creation of value and resource use in an economy at large.

Limited literature provides concrete, theory-based methods for quantifying the effects of sharing capital. This paper describes the potential contribution of portfolio theory to quantify the effects and optimize the employment of capital (human, tangible, financial, and service employing capital) in a theoretical and quantitative manner in the context of sustainability. Insights illustrate how portfolio principles can yield benefits, including the fulfillment of needs using fewer resources, consistent with sustainability. In particular, “pooling” assets to meet uncertain demands from different users of an asset pool may yield benefit from diversification effects. Suggests future research avenues such as the management of high-value, critical-value, and expiring resources to support sustainability.

This paper analyses a case of maintenance planning that was researched in previous work and thereby improved using predictive maintenance with an artificial intelligence (AI) technique. In particular, the en- vironmental implications are presented using a life cycle assessment. Using AI to develop maintenance planning could be a feasible method that can outperform other strategies. However, the results of this analysis show that the economic and environmental performance depends largely on the assessment set- ting. Therefore, applying appropriate system boundaries and functional unit is of major importance to avoid sub-optimization when maintenance planning is developed.

This article presents a concept for creating arenas where expertise from certain branches of industry can interact with sustainability professionals and researchers to address and solve sustainability challenges. The concept Sustainability Jam Session (SJS) builds upon the idea of conducting creative meetings between professionals in “jam sessions,” similar to those associated primarily with music and improvisation. Approaches such as these have been used in the IT sector over the past decades, but this is the first attempt to apply it in the area of sustainability. SJS's were tested at the 2012 Greening of Industry Network Conference (GIN2012) and here we report our experiences from arranging six SJS's at the conference.

A typical process of an SJS includes a preparatory phase, the actual jam, and documentation and follow up. The preparatory phase mainly involves identifying hosts and topics to be addressed at the SJS, followed by attracting participants. The jam is started by an introduction of the topics, a technical visit (if appropriate), and a problem-solving workshop, ending with a wrap-up reporting. Thorough documentation is necessary for following up the results of the SJS and preparing for implementation of the identified solutions.

We conclude that skill, structure, setting, and surrender of control, as well as finding “red and hot” topics for the jams are the key factors for successful SJS's.

Based on our experiences from GIN2012, we recommend other research conferences in the sustainability field use SJS's if the intention is to boost the interaction between the conference and the host region or non-academic organizations in general. We also suggest that a similar approach can be used in regional development for creating an infrastructure for learning and transformation towards sustainability and initiatives for open innovation.

The shift from product ownership to integrated solutions (Product-Service Systems (PSSs)) is expected to lead to a highercustomer satisfaction in many cases compared to providing products and services separately. PSS providers are requiredto add more value to the products they offer, as well as to augment and diversify the services related to these products.To deal with this complex task, this paper proposes a practical methodology to support manufacturers in designingservices related to the proper functioning of their products fulfilling customers’ needs and expectations. This approach isbased on the synergic use of Quality Function Deployment for PSS (QFDforPSS), Axiomatic Design (AD) and theservice blueprint tools, providing a correlation between the customers’ expectations, the PSS components and the PSSmodules. The methodology was verified by means of a service modularisation for PSS at a company operating in thebiomedical sector. While the proposed approach needs to be validated through further studies in different contexts, itspositive results in reducing both the risk of overdesigning and the possibility of creating design conflicts can contributepractically to the scientific knowledge on the development of integrated solutions.

Evolution of the concept of environmental sustainability in the industrial world has brought to light the importance assigned to the first stages of the product development, i.e. the early-phase design activities. It is of common knowledge that decisions made in these phases allow the products- optimization from the performances point of view, as well as more competitiveness on the market, drastically reducing the costs related to subsequent modifications and corrections of the product during the manufacturing phases or even after its introduction in the market. Ecodesign certainly represents the most effective design approach for the achievement of such goals. A large number of tools proposed in the recent years is an indicator of the great attention paid to such problems. However, the use of such tools by designers is still partial or not well organized, particularly in SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises). The research work carried out is an attempt to the solution of these difficulties. This paper proposes a design procedure, consisting in the integration of several design tools in a framework of a general nature aimed at reducing the gap between theory and practice. The study, performed throughout the development of a case study, analyzed the -usability- of the Ecodesign methods, and underlined their efficiency and effectiveness when used in a synergic way.

The ability for a product or a service to meet customer needs and requirements efficiently before its market launch is a key-point in design and development activities. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) represents one of the most powerful design methods to achieve such a goal.This study investigates the QFD-based methods proposed in the last two decades, whose use in different ambits of Design for X (DfX) is reported to be effective.We selected most common QFD based methods, analysing how designers can implement and coordinate them in design activities effectively throughout their application to an identical case study.

In product-as-a-service (PaaS) systems, the ownership of products remains with original equipmentmanufacturers (OEMs), and customers get access to the functionality of products by signing a usagerelatedcontract. The PaaS business model changes the boundary conditions of a production systemand related logistics. To increase circularity, PaaS shall be supported by value retention processes,such as remanufacturing. Currently, remanufacturing in PaaS in business-to-consumer markets (B2C)is a niche practice. This paper aims to identify the main challenges and enablers for OEMs to scale upremanufacturingwhentransitioning to PaaS in B2C. Through the PRISMA systematic literature reviewof 48 relevant articles, we identify 20 challenges and 19 enablers, grouped into six areas: products,legislation and policy, customers and market, servitisation, remanufacturing process, and the returnsystem. To make this study more actionable, we applied a gap analysis and combined the theoreticalfindings with an assessment of their impact in practice by five experts with experience in industrialcases. As a result, we have narrowed the list of factors to 12 challenges and 14 enablers. These factorsare structured as a decision aid for OEMs to facilitate their transition to remanufacturing in PaaS.

The paper proposes a systematic procedure for the development of Product-ServiceSystems (PSSs) by focusing on the analysis of customer requirements, and theselection of those that can practically enhance the offerings’ value. With this goal inmind, the Quality Function Deployment for Product Service Systems (QFDforPSS)method was augmented by means of the Kano model to filter the customers’ needsand transform the attractive ones into Receiver State Parameters (RSPs), as thecornerstone of QFDforPSS. Then, to properly assess these parameters and theirinherent uncertainty, the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) method wasalso integrated into the procedure. To validate the proposed procedure, it wasimplemented in a case study in the medical devices sector, in collaboration with ahaemodialysis equipment manufacturer, which operates in a regulated market ofproduct-oriented services.

 Good combination of product and service is one of key issues toward environmental conscious business. This paper aims at demonstrating a design method and a CAD tool to integrate products and service activities for total value. Service Blueprint from marketing field is extended to cover product behavior by utilizing physical feature from engineering field. View model, which describes function structure of service for the receiver state, works as a bridge between product behavior and service activity. Both the above method and the CAD tool are demonstrated through an example presented herein.

Good combination of product and service is a key issue to balance economic growth with environmental concerns. This paper aims at demonstrating a design method to integrate products and service activities for total value. Our design method differs from Traditional Engineering and Concurrent Engineering in that products and service activities are designed in parallel according to customer value. To establish such design method, the service blueprinting method from marketing field, which describes service delivery processes, is extended to include product and its behavior. Function structure of service for the receiver state works as a bridge between product behavior and service activity. Both the above method and the CAD tool are demonstrated through an example presented herein.

Customizing offerings to match customers’ specific needs is a common practice for manufacturers striving to maintain their competence in markets. Despite Product/Service Systems (PSSs) having developed substantially in industry and academia for the last two decades, no scientific review of PSS customization has been published. This prompted us to conduct a review of scientific papers relating to products, services, and PSS customization with a focus on design, with the aim of clarifying future research directions in PSS customization. In particular, distinct design models and methods were individually examined, with a special focus on service aspects, in terms of what to design and how to design it. The population of papers included in the review was those included in the Web of Science. Even though service customization has been utilizing the knowledge generated by product customization, which has been researched extensively for decades, there are differences between them, such as the difficulty associated with modularity. The same or even larger differences apply to PSS customization, because, apart from service characteristics, PSS also has product characteristics and thus is more complex. Results also include that the module-based platform strategy used in service customization can also be used for PSS. Although several papers concerned with PSS customization have been published thus far, their focus has been on the service aspect of PSS, providing further research opportunities. Existing methods to design PSS can be also applied to develop a method for PSS customization.

Many methods and tools have been developed to help original equipment manufacturers to shift towards circular business models (CBM),however, a gap is observed for decision making support that allows to test different functions of a CBM and their prompt exchange of relevantinformation. To overcome this, a design platform concept is proposed, aiming to transcend existing frameworks' limitations and link engineeringand managerial aspects. Focused on delivering Product-as-a-Service for electrical and electronic equipment, the platform concept aims to reduceglobal electronic waste and extend product lifespans. Emphasis is placed on a hierarchical product architecture structure, a well-developed serviceecosystem involving various stakeholders, and the integration of digital twins, data management, and artificial intelligence. Specific performanceand circularity indicators within the design platform concept will address the challenges related to circularity, business model development, andsustainability. These indicators encompass decision tools focusing on both product and business model design and operation with the help ofdifferent ease of X decision tools (repair, refurbish, remanufacture, reuse, and recycle). Additionally, sustainability validation tools, includinglife cycle assessment, critical raw material assessment, life cycle cost analysis, and social life cycle assessment, will support informed decisionmaking within the design platform concept.

Previous literature has highlighted many opportunities for digital technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and data analytics, to enable circular strategies, i.e., strategies which support the transition to a circular economy (CE). As one of the key circular strategies for which the digital opportunities are apparent, maintenance is selected as the focus area for this study. In the field of maintenance, IoT and data analytics enable companies to implement condition-based maintenance (CBM), i.e., maintenance based on monitoring the actual condition of products in the field. CBM can lead to more timely and efficient maintenance, better performing products-in-use, reduced downtime in operations, and longer product lifetimes. Despite these benefits, CBM implementation in practice is still limited. The aim of this research is thus to understand the challenges related to CBM implementation in practice, and to extract solutions which companies have applied to address these challenges. Towards this aim, a multiple case study is conducted at three original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). A framework is derived which allows for a broad analysis of challenges and solutions in the cases. We identify 19 challenges and 16 solutions and translate these into a set of actionable recommendations. Our findings contribute to the field of CBM with a comprehensive view of challenges and solutions in practice, from the OEMs point of view. Moreover, we contribute to CE literature with a concrete case study about IoT-enabled circular strategy implementation. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Extending the lifetime of passive products, i.e., products that do not consume materials or energy during the use phase, by implementing product-service systems (PSS) has a potential to reduce the environmental impact while being an attractive and straightforward measure for companies to implement.

This research assesses the viability of introducing PSS for passive products, by documenting five real product cases of prolonging the lifetime through repair or refurbishment and by quantifying, through life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC), the change in environmental and economic outcome.

The environmental impact (measured as global warming potential over the life cycle) was reduced for all cases because extraction and production dominated the impact. This reduction was 45–72% for most cases and mainly influenced by the number of reuses and the relative environmental burden of the components whose lifetime was prolonged. The costs for the company (measured as LCC from the manufacturer’s perspective) decreased too by 8–37%. The main reason that costs reduced less than the environmental impact is that some costs have no equivalent in LCA, e.g., administration and labor costs for services. The decreases in both LCA and LCC results, as well as the willingness of the companies to implement the changes, demonstrate that this measure can be financially attractive for companies to implement and effectively contribute to a circular economy.

The implementation of circular measures in businesses constitutes a solution to future resource scarcity, which has yet to gain momentum. To select and implement such measures, companies, with limited resources need practical and easy-to-use guides that help them understand the financial outcomes while leading them towards more circular solutions. To this end, a guideline based on Life Cycle Costing (LCC), which fulfils the aforementioned criteria, has been created. The guideline directs the companies towards measures at the top of the CE hierarchy and LCC is used to assess profitability and provide information on material circularity. Its development follows the Design Research Methodology (DRM) and is based on using LCC at three case companies when selecting circular measures and on literature. Insights on the companies’ processes and decision criteria as well as the LCC results are presented. One identified critical criterion is the profitability of a circular measure, but comparing the LCC of alternatives is only an adequate measure of profitability, if the alternatives are functionally equivalent and of equal value for the customer, otherwise revenue and customer costs need to be compared as well. In addition, because labour is included in LCC, by categorizing the costs companies can be guided towards exchanging material costs with labour costs. Concerning circularity, in this comparative context, the difference in material cost between the alternatives can be used to measure circularity performance without additional effort. Finally, customization of products was also identified in the company research as a barrier to the implementation of various circular measures.

Strategies for sustainable development are arguably part of the most discussed issues among political and corporate actors. These discussions are spurred by global challenges such as climate change, urbanization, and critical natural resource depletion. Sustainable development will require deep structural and wide-reaching changes in current institutions, technologies, and businesses. Furthermore, new approaches are needed to facilitate the development, diffusion, and implementation of environmental technologies. In the academic discourse different concepts, e.g., ecodesign and Product/Service System design, have been proposed within the framework of sustainable development. To deliver even more system-wide environmental improvements, these concepts have been challenged to be expanded in focus beyond products and services to include large technical systems encompassing non-technological dimensions. Motivated by these, the goal of this article is twofold. First, to offer an expanded view on ecodesign of product/service systems using a perspective of large technical systems. Second, to propose and discuss important components to consider when developing business concepts for the diffusion of large scaled environmental technology systems such as district heating supply, waste management, and renewable energy systems. Using qualitative semi-structured interviews and company documentation analysis, this study examines five companies that develop and diffuse large scaled environmental technology systems. As a result of these case studies, we propose components of business concepts that incorporate both technological and non-technological dimensions. Our proposed business concept components are: market (including regulation), finance, resources, activities, partnership (especially public-private partnership), ownership and responsibility, and legitimacy. Regulation, public-private partnership, and legitimacy are particularly important in the diffusion of large scaled environmental technology systems.

In recent years, strategies for sustainable development are arguably among the most discussed issues among political, public and corporate actors. These discussions are spurred by major trends such as climate change, rapid urbanization, critical material and energy resource depletion. To facilitate sustainable development, deep structural and wide reaching changes seem needed in current technologies, infrastructure, businesses and institutions. In the academic discourse, different concepts, methods and tools, have been proposed and continue to be expounded within the framework of sustainable development. Notable among them include the concepts of ecodesign, and product and service systems design. These concepts have contributed to environmental improvements but have been challenged by critics to be expanded beyond products and services to include non-technological changes in order to deliver system wide environmental improvements.

Departing from this background, the goal of this article is twofold, first to offer an expanded view on environmental conscious design of products and services with large scaled sociotechnical systems and then to propose and discuss important components to consider when developing business concepts based on large scaled environmental technology systems. In doing this, we offer a new way of describing business concepts based on large scaled environmental technology systems which incorporates non-technological dimensions such as meeting formal and informal expectations. We propose a set of components to consider when developing business concepts based on large scaled environmental technology offering. These components are: market (including regulations), finance, resources, activities, partnership (especially public-private partnership), ownership and responsibility, and legitimacy. Among these factors, regulation, public-private partnership, and legitimacy were  found as particular for environmental technology diffusion.

In manufacturing, systems combining physical products and services have been attracting much attention. For such systems, designers need to focus on customer requirements rather than on the achievement of functionality. Methods are proposed in this paper for the analysis of requirements and extension of the design process proposed in Service Engineering. The focus is on the specification of service users in a client organization and on the extraction of their requirements in consideration of the organizational objectives of the client. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated by an application, where a bank is a target client of a service.

Recently, a circular economy has attracted global attention as an approach for addressing material security and resource-efficiency issues. As our societies shift toward a circular economy, manufacturers need to not only produce environmentally conscious products but to also realize reliable systems that will ensure the closure of the loops of the products, components, and materials. To do so, early-stage design is crucial to effectively and efficiently detect possible failures and then take adequate countermeasures against them. Although a few methods of failure analysis have been proposed to address environmental issues, these methods have failed to consider the cause-effect relationships among failures. This will hinder manufacturers from identifying core problems that should be addressed in a given system. Therefore, this study extends failure mode and effect analysis, which is an engineering technique used to address potential failures, by addressing the entire system reliability in relation to circularity. As a result of a case study of a manufacturer aiming to increase circularity with their products on the market, we revealed that the proposed method is useful in the early stage of design to (a) identify failure modes where effects are largely given to or received from other failures, (b) develop countermeasures effectively by addressing root causes of failures, and (c) find an opportunity to collaborate with external actors.

Remanufacturing is a crucial component for our societies tomove toward a circular economy. Compared to newmanufacturing, the distinctive nature of remanufacturing isfound to have high variability, high uncertainty and, thereby,complexity. Therefore, remanufacturers need to enhance theirability to adjust their systems flexibly. Especially, the ability toreconfigure the production planning and control is crucial forreacting to the high variability and uncertainty. However, fewpractical methods to do that are available so far. Therefore, tosolve this problem, this paper aims to propose a method fordesigning processes of production planning and control inremanufacturing based on the concept of loosely coupledsystems. In the proposed method, Design Structure Matrix(DSM) is applied to identify loosely coupled subsystems thatenable to localize impacts of changes within themselves. Thesesubsystems are also utilized to appropriately determine leveragepoints, as well as allocate human resource. Through theapplication to a real case of remanufacturing, the proposedmethod was found to be effective for reconfiguring teams andprocesses for production planning and control depending ongiven uncertainties, as well as performing production planningand control activities efficiently.

Recently, product-service systems (PSSs), which create value by integrating a physical product and a service, have been attracting attention. In PSSs, it is critical for a provider to offer highly reliable products and services. To do so, the provider needs to effectively and efficiently detect possible failures, and then, take adequate measures against them in the conceptual design stage. However, in current studies on product failure analysis, service aspects are not covered in analyzing failure causes and developingmeasures. On the other hand, product aspects are hardly considered in existing methods of service failure analysis. To fill the gap, this paper proposes a method for failureanalysis in PSS design called PSS failure mode and effect analysis (PSS FMEA). Especially, this paper extends theframework of FMEA, and then, a procedure for PSS FMEA is introduced so that designers can analyze failures and develop measures in consideration of both product andservice aspects. Furthermore, the proposed method supports designers in finding new business opportunities. The proposed method was applied to a real offering of products and services by a cleaning machine provider and found effective.

Remanufacturing is a crucial component for our societies to move toward a circular economy. Compared with new manufacturing, the distinctive nature of remanufacturing is found to have high variability, high uncertainty and, thereby, complexity. Therefore, remanufacturers need to be able to adapt to the complexity and to flexibly adjust their processes. Especially, the ability to remanufacturing process planning and control is important. However, few practical methods supporting that are available so far. Therefore, this paper aims to propose a method for designing teams and processes in remanufacturing based on the concept of loosely coupled systems. In the proposed method, design structure matrix (DSM) is applied to identify loosely coupled sub-systems that enable to localize impacts of changes within themselves. These sub-systems are also regarded as cross-functional teams that reduce coordination efforts among line departments and, therefore, increase the adaptability against uncertainties. As a preliminary validation, the proposed method was applied to a real case of remanufacturing, and then found to be effective for creating teams and processes for remanufacturing process planning and control depending on given uncertainties.

This paper gives new insight into how PSS providers perceive and react to different types of uncertainties regarding PSS in their planning, design, and development through an interview study. The companies were found to be most concerned about Market Uncertainty, Supplier Coordination Uncertainty, and Uncertainty of Innovative Services, in this order. The uncertainty types perceived as opportunity by a greater number of firms were Market Uncertainty, Environment Uncertainty, and Uncertainty of Product Functioning. Furthermore, the companies that offer Use-Oriented Service or Result-Oriented Service seemed to perceive lower risks than those offering only Product-Oriented Service.

To comply with a circular economy (CE) and gain significant financial, environmental, and societal benefits, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) tend to adopt circular strategies, also known as "Rs". With a growing tendency to develop new Rs in CE frameworks, OEMs can become disoriented. While remanufacturing is often ranked low compared to other Rs, remanufacturing can still retain the highest product value (pull the used product value up to the top of the Retained Value Hill (see graphical abstract)).The aim of this paper is to align remanufacturing in comparison to other value-retaining processes (VRPs) in terms of the retained product value. To fulfill this aim, data was collected through a literature study and interviews with remanufacturers. The results show that although remanufacturing tends to demand more resources to retain a high product value, it outperforms other VRPs and delivers better output quality, assured with a longer warranty, neutral product identity, and extended (doubled or tripled) product use time. This paper enriches the research on remanufacturing, VRPs, and CE frameworks by showing that OEMs can ride the Retained Value Hill highest and longest only with remanufacturing.

This book contains the 5th CIRP International Conference on Industrial Product-Service Systems, and presents current research on product-service systems written by experts in the field.

The objective is to analyze how proposed Integrated Product Service Offering (IPSO) actors and system maps can be utilized in order to identify and access IPSO-related requirements. Furthermore, the objective is to identify and analyze how IPSO-related requirements are managed and transformed into product-related design aspects. Literature review, interviews and workshops were the primary research methods used. The conclusion is that participating companies have realized that there are several issues within their operations that can be improved, and proposed maps provide support for this. These maps provide useful detailed information compared to other approaches, and are easy to use.

In recent years there has been a shift in mechanical industry from a focus on physical products to product-service systems (PSS). The objective of this paper is to map out engineering implications and challenges based on five empirical examples of integrated product-service offerings (IPSOs). The paper is mainly based on case studies at Swedish manufacturing companies of different sizes. The following IPSOs were studied: (1) Lighting Function, (2) Core Plugs, (3) Material Handling, (4) Plate compacting, and (5) Thrust. These examples show that the orientation towards IPSOs implies several important strategic implications for a provider. Based on the examples, a discussion is presented concerning existing and potential engineering issues related to engineering requirements, development process and risks and opportunities with IPSOs.

Product/Service Systems have recently grown in manufacturers’ interest. This paper presents an international survey of manufacturers from Sweden, Japan, Italy and Germany. The results show that customer connection and demands along with increased competition were main driving forces for product/service systems. Also, most product/service systems include physical products, maintenance and repairs. Staff working with product development, marketing and after sales were the major actors in product/service system development. As in traditional product sales, most product/service systems still have the ownership of physical products transferred to the customer/user. Physical products used in product/service systems are seldom adapted for product/service systems.