Manufacturing is a process of converting raw materials, parts or components into finished products that meet particular specifications or customer’s expectation. The production process is usually done on a large scale and it involves use of different tools, machines, chemicals and labour. Manufacturing processes have numerous impacts on the environment. This has become a major concern in the manufacturing industry due to the increasing problem of climate change. As a result, it is the responsibility of every company to develop techniques that minimizes environmental impacts resulting from their manufacturing activities (Yang, et al., 2011). Many manufacturing companies have adopted different sustainable practices to mitigate environment impacts without reducing their productivity (Normann & Maier-Speredelozzi, 2016). Some of these include: lean practices, green practices, recycling, reuse, etc. (Inman & Green, 2018). These practices also improve the overall operational performance of the company (Belekoukias, et al., 2014); (Knol, et al., 2018). As a manufacturer of electric mobility scooters for the disabled, this company had decided to change its manufacturing model from linear model to circular model, which is based on circular economy. Linear model of extract-manufacture-use-dispose is unsustainable. Circular economy model is cyclical hence sustainable where once materials have been extracted, they are manufactured, used and reused over and over again so as to keep them in the system as long as possible (Kirchherr, et al., 2017). The model is based on reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing, cascading, repair and upgrading of manufactured components (Haas, et al., 2015); (Korhonen, et al., 2018). In general, circular economy has numerous social, economic and environmental benefits to businesses, people and the world as a whole (Asif, et al., 2016).
Electric mobility scooters comprise of different components that are linked to form one integrated system. The components can be categorized into three groups as follows: structural components (they include chassis, wheels, suspension, seat assembly, bearings, etc.); electrical components (they include motors, switches, wires, circuit boards, batteries, battery chargers, brakes, gears, controllers, connectors, fuses, etc.); and miscellaneous parts (they include tyres, transmission, bodywork, upholstery, reflector, mirror, lights, bumper, speed knobs & potentiometers, tiller, etc.).
Structural components are integrated parts that create various frames of the scooter. The components support the body and mechanical parts of the scooter and also deal with dynamic and static loads. Electrical components are parts that make up the scooter’s electronic system. These components are connected together to form electronic circuit that supply power that drives the scooter. Miscellaneous parts are all other components of the scooter other than structural and electrical components. The company does not manufacture all these components, some are purchased from suppliers (especially electrical parts) and only taken to the factory for assembly.
The components are made of different materials including metals, polymers and composites. This makes manufacturing processes different. However, the processing steps for components made of the same materials are similar but distinct. The general processing steps are as follows:
Sourcing raw materials
This involves placing purchase orders of the desired materials from selected suppliers. Some of the materials are sourced locally while others are imported from overseas.
Sorting and mixing
Once materials are delivered in the factory, they are sorted and combined to achieve the desired properties.
Melting and moulding
This done for the metallic components. The raw materials are subjected to intense heat for a specific period of time to melt. Thereafter, the molten raw material is moulded into desired forms. Since most of the components are made of metals, the processing steps highlighted here are for metallic components.
Forming
This is where the moulded forms are taken through several forming operations. For metal parts, they can be hot rolled, converted into wires and bars, formed into sheets, strips or plates. The forms are in different shapes depending on the intended application.
Heat treatment
This process is also known as annealing (Cougartron, 2016). This is where the metal forms are heated and cooled under controlled conditions. This process helps to relieve any stress that may have buildup in the material and also to soften it and make it more suitable for the intended application. The process is done under strict control of temperature, cooling rate, duration and pressure to avoid producing faulty products.
Descaling
Annealing process usually leaves some scales on the surface of the material. These scales must be removed so as to achieve the desired quality of the final product. The process of removing this scales is called descaling. The company uses several techniques of descaling, including pickling.
Cutting
This involves cutting the descaled forms into specific shapes and sizes. The process is done using nibbling, blanking and high speed automated blades.
Finishing
This process aims at changing the surface texture and appearance of the products. The process is done by painting, surface smoothening, etc.
Inspection
This involves checking finished components thoroughly by use of machines and manually to ensure that they meet the required quality standards and there are no flaws or deflects. Only components that pass the inspections are used.
Assembly
This is where finished products, including those manufactured at the factory and the ones purchased from suppliers, are joined together to form the electric mobility scooter. There are two kinds of assembly process: creating a subsystem and creating a complete system. Sub-systems are assembled using pick and place method. In this method, a computerized machine is loaded with dispensers of the needed parts then picks them systematically and places them onto the desired position where they are secured to the subsystem. The electric mobility scooter is then created by assembling the complete subsystems.
The entire manufacturing process at the company includes both conditioning processes and synthetic processes. Conditioning processes involves changing raw materials from one form to a more useful form while synthetic processes entail assembling ready-made components to get the desired product.
Almost all the components used to make the electric mobility scooters can be made circular fully. Some of them can be reused, repaired, remanufactured, refurbished, upgraded or recycled. Therefore if the company implements appropriate strategies, it is potentially posed to achieve all the goals, objectives and benefits of a circular economy.
As aforementioned, the company has decided to change its manufacturing business model from linear model to circular model. The main objective is to cycle all the materials and components used for the manufacture of electric mobility scooters indefinitely. The future sustainable industrial system of the company at different stages of a typical product will be characterized by the following:
Efficient materials selection
The key attributes of raw materials that the company will use for the manufacture of electric mobility scooters’ components are: long-lasting, cost-effective, environmentally friendly, easy to manufacture, recyclable and locally available. This will assist in reducing production cost, production time and environmental impacts,
Circular value chain
All materials used and components manufactured by the company will be cycled as much as possible. This is so as to keep them useful and have high value indefinitely. The main aim of the company’s production cycle will be to close the loop throughout the value chain.
Zero emissions
There will be zero carbon emissions throughout the lifecycle of its products. The manufacturing facility will not release any carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Any emissions will be closely monitored and made non-toxic before being released into the atmosphere. The products will also not produce any emissions during operations stage.
Zero waste
There will be zero or near-zero generation of waste during manufacturing process of the products. The same will apply when the system is in operation as it will not generate any waste. Any waste generated will be used as a resource, either for another purpose or recycled to form new products. This will help in reducing overall production costs and conserve the environment.
Resource efficiency
All processes associated with the production of electric mobility scooters will be as resource-efficient as possible. This will minimize the total amount of resources needed to produce these products (Tukker, 2015). As a result, extraction of natural resources will reduce thus helping in protecting the environment and enhancing biodiversity. Resource efficiency of the products during operation stage will also be very high.
Renewable energy
Most of the systems at the manufacturing facility will be powered by renewable energy. This will reduce electricity bills and overall production costs and also minimize environmental impacts of the manufacturing process. Surplus energy generated will be sold to the national grid or nearby businesses and homes.
High quality products
All products manufactured by the company will be of very high quality. This will help in improving their performance, reducing maintenance and repair needs and increasing their durability. This will be very beneficial to the customers thus helping the company maintain existing customers, get referrals and improve its reputation in the market.
No surplus
There will be no excess products manufactured. This will help in avoiding wastage and losses and ensuring that products are only manufactured once the market is guaranteed. It also helps in avoiding overstocking that could otherwise cause inventory problems.
Effective collaboration
All parties involved along the supply chain of the products manufactured by the company will work together as a team. This will enhance communication and collaboration, and reduce conflicts, disputes and misunderstanding that could otherwise sabotage achieving the benefits of circular economy.
Protected biodiversity and ecosystems
The manufacturing processes and final products created by the company will not harm the environment. This will eliminate negative impacts of the manufacturing processes on ecosystems and biodiversity.
Use of available materials
Use of scarce resources will be avoided and instead locally available materials will be utilized for the manufacture of electric mobility scooters. Scarce materials are usually costly and have numerous challenges of ensuring that they are delivered on time (Lieder & Rashid, 2016). The continuous use of these resources also endangers their existence hence the company will avoid or minimize their use as a way of conserving them.
The company will recover useful resources from by-products or disposed products. This includes heat or energy produced from the manufacturing activities.
Increased functionality
The total number of components that are needed to manufacture the electric mobility scooters will be minimized and the number of scooters produced will also go down without reducing the revenue and profits of the company. This will help in reducing extraction of natural materials, production costs and environmental impacts.
Disposal process
Landfill disposal will be the last option. The components will only be disposed after they have been reused, refurbished, remanufactured, upgraded and recycled and reused again to a point where their quality and value can no longer be regained or improved further.
Transition from linear economy to circular economy has never been easy for any business. This is because it requires critical system change since the company’s purpose has to be re-conceptualized followed by redefining its perception of value (Bocken, et al., 2014). The same is expected here and therefore the company must develop and implement several short-term and long-term strategies that will see it achieve the future sustainable system that has been described above. Some of the short term and long term strategies that the company will adopt are discussed below:
Short term strategies
Establish a team
The first step that the company will take towards getting to the sustainable system is to set up a team that will oversee transition from linear economy to circular economy. This team will comprise of different professionals from within and outside the company. Their main task will be to develop a plan highlighting the most suitable strategies that the company should adopt for smooth transition.
Change design approach
The company is going to change its design approach of all the components used to manufacture the electric mobility scooters components. The design model will be changed to slow resource loops and close resource loops. Slow resource loops is a strategy of designing long-life products and whose useful life can be extended (Bocken, et al., 2016). The products will be designed for durability, reliability, maintenance, repair, recycle and upgrade. Miele, a German appliance company, is an example of a company that has successfully adopted the strategy of designing long-life and high quality appliances. Its appliances has lifespan of 20 years and this has made it a preference for many customers (Bocken, et al., 2016). It also has a service company that maintains and repairs the appliances, which helps in reducing waste. Close resource loops is a strategy of designing based on three principles: technological cycle (using materials that can be recycled and reused continuously and safely), biological cycle (using materials that are biodegradable) (Vert, et al., 2012), and disassembly and reassembly. To achieve this, the company will form joint ventures and partnerships with waste management companies and scooter components recyclers so as bring their end-of-use proficiency into its product redesign.
Change materials selection approach
The company will change its methodology used for selecting raw materials to the one that suits the requirements of a sustainable system. Material properties have significant effect on the performance and longevity of various components of electric mobility scooters (Harun, et al., 2013). The company will therefore focus on using materials that are long-lasting and which can be easily repaired, remanufactured and reused. To protect biodiversity, the company will also ensure that all ingredients used to make the electric mobility scooters are durable and disposable. Those that are durable will be reused, repaired, remanufactured, refurbished and recycled while disposable ones will be put back into nature since they are biodegradable.
Reduce waste
The company will also focus on minimizing waste at different stages of manufacturing. One of the principles of circular economy is that none of the products made should become waste. Any waste generated during manufacturing will be converted into useful feed stocks for production of new products. An example of a company that uses similar strategy is AB Sugar, the largest sugar producer in UK by market share. The company’s core business is sugar production but it uses by-products to produce additional profitable products. It uses bagasse to produce animal feeds and uses carbon dioxide and latent heat produced from sugar refining processes for growing tomatoes in greenhouses (Short, et al., 2014). This means the company will have to find ways on how to use its by-products to manufacture other products besides scooter components. When a component comes to the end of its useful life, the company will make sure that it is remanufactured and reused either for the same or different purpose instead of disposing it. To avoid unnecessary wastage, the company will be donating products in case of overproduction. The company will also launch return and take-back programmes to encourage customers return unwanted, damaged, malfunctioning products or the ones that have reached the end of their useful life, for a small pay. There will be incentives for customers who participate in these programmes. These programmes will be made successful through elaborative collaboration initiatives between the company and customers (Hannon, et al., 2016). Lean manufacturing principles will also be adopted to minimize waste.
Creating awareness
It is rather obvious that the company cannot achieve the sustainable system without involving key stakeholders since numerous interdisciplinary parties are involved in the manufacturing process, including suppliers and government officials. Therefore a team is going to be set up to lead in creating awareness among key stakeholders about the company’s sustainable system and the role that each stakeholder should play to achieve it. In this process, all stakeholders will understand how they will benefit from the system and why they should support it. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the awareness will start internally where all employees will be educated and trained accordingly about the new sustainable system that the company wants to adopt and how they are expected to support it.
Use of common and locally available materials
Scarce or rare materials are always expensive to use hence the company will avoid them by all means. Instead, the company is going to use common materials that are easy to find. Priority will be given to locally available materials. An example of a company that has benefited from this strategy is Rodenburg Biopolymers – the manufacturer of bio-based polymer Solanyl. The company uses locally available potato peels left over from its production process of potato products. As a result, energy consumed in manufacturing Solanyl is 65% less and the price of the product is 50% cheaper than that of other synthetic polymers (Bocken, et al., 2016). Where necessary, the company is going to use nanomaterials or composite materials by combining different materials that complement each other so as to achieve the desired properties.
Supply chain challenge
Since the electric mobility scooters contain numerous components made from different raw materials that are sourced from different suppliers (some coming from different countries), the company will have to overcome the supply chain challenge. This company will develop a plan to help in holistic understanding of the way materials and sourced and processed. This will play a key role in creating mutually beneficial partnerships with suppliers and also in identifying areas where remanufacturing practices should be adopted (Miret, 2014). Renault is one of the companies that have benefited from distributing value across the supply chain. By changing the nature and terms of relationships with suppliers, the company motives them to redesign some of the materials, components and processes for improved efficiency. This has helped the company reduce energy consumption in some of its plants by 80%, water consumption by 90% and waste by 90%, and at the same time delivering higher operating profit margins (Nguyen, et al., 2014).
Long term Strategies
Use of renewable energy
The company is going to carry out extensive research so as to establish feasible renewable energy systems. Use of renewable energy is among the key elements of circular economy as it helps companies to reduce electricity costs, creates more employment and minimizes environmental impacts. The objective of this initiative is to ensure that the company is energy self-reliant and operates fully on renewable energy. All current non-renewable energy sources at the company will be substituted with renewable energy sources.
Develop access and performance strategy
This strategy is aimed at providing services or capability that satisfy the needs of users without them having to own physical products. In this case, the company will develop an access ad performance model where customers will be hiring or using electric mobility scooters without necessarily having to own them. This will help in slowing resource loops since the number of scooters produced will reduce. But this reduction will not affect the company’s profits as it will benefit from durability, reusability, energy efficiency and reparability of the products whereas customers will enjoy reduced costs since the company will be responsible for maintenance and repair of the products.
Extend product value and life
The company is going to apply several approaches of extending the value of its products and their lifespan. Besides design and use of suitable materials, the company will be turning what may be considered as wasted products into new kinds of value. All wastes will be collected and either reused, repaired, remanufactured or recycled. A similar case study of extending product value is the Interface’s Net-Works program where fishing nets are sourced from poor coastal areas as a way of cleaning up beaches and oceans (Interface, 2018). The nets are then recycled into yarns used for making new carpet tiles. This not only helps in protecting the environment but also creates employment opportunities for local residents.
Integrate digital technology
The company is also going to incorporate digital technology in all its processes and operations. This will help in tracking and optimizing the resources used at each stage of production and also the connection with supply chain parties. Some of the technological tools that will be used include: online marketing and purchase platforms, use of robots and drones, data analytics and artificial intelligence, among others.
All the strategies adopted will not only focus on the benefits that the company will get by optimizing production processes but also the co-benefits of supply chain actors, customers and the society as a whole
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