Defining circulation factories - A pathway towards factories of the future

Felipe Cerdas, Denis Kurle, Stefan Andrew, Sebastian Thiede, Christoph Herrmann, Yeo Zhiquan, Low Sze Choong Jonathan, Song Bin, Sami Kara

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articleAcademicpeer-review

28 Citations (Scopus)
15 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Manufacturing companies are increasingly perceived not only on the basis of their products but also of their factories and their embedding within the environment. For this reason, both existing and future factories face the challenges posed by a dynamic and changing market environment. Thus, a gradual change from a throughput to a circular economy leads to the emergence of two categories of factory systems. One category is producing goods, while the second one is recovering and treating waste, residues and the rest of the product at the end of its life. Against this background, this paper introduces the concept of Circulation Factories which combines manufacturing with remanufacturing and recycling into one integrated system. Circulation Factories will enable the realization of an industrial symbiosis transferring waste to value. Drivers and challenges are discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)627-632
JournalProcedia CIRP
Volume29
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015
Externally publishedYes
Event22nd CIRP Conference on Life Cycle Engineering, LCE 2015 - Sidney, Australia
Duration: 7 Apr 20159 Apr 2015
Conference number: 22

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