Design strategy model

The principles of the circular economy need to be translated into the realm of product development. These principles, as they are described in chapter 3, offer a general descrip tion that is not directly applicable to product development activities. As a way to make the principles more actionable, they are translated into design strategies. These strategies embody the more high-level principles of the circular economy and offer spe - cific directions to develop boilers for increased resource effectivity in a circular economy. Literature on the circular economy mentions several potential strategies for design. Bakker, den Hollander, Van Hinte, and Zijlstra (2014) focus at the potential of long-life products and mention concepts such as design for disassembly, upgradability and ease of maintenance. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2012) speaks of modular product structures and standardised components to enable circularity through design. In a more recent study the Ellen MacArthur Foundation mentions strategies relating to circular product design, such as dematerialisation, material substitution, and increased product efficiency (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2015). These studies offer various possibilities for improving a product’s design for the circular economy. However, the performed literature research reveals no studies that present design strategies on a holistic level, addressing the multiple facets to circular product development. Often, publications take a selective viewpoint, focusing at, for instance, long life or end-of-life treatment.

A more holistic view on design strategies for a circular economy would promote their effective selection and application. To this end, a design strategy model is proposed, represented by figure 6.1. The model offers a structured representation of design strategies and indicates their relevance to circular economy principles. Literature study

has been an important source for formulating the model, building on studies like Bakker et al. (2014) and the ReSOLVE framework by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2015). Moreover, an ideation process based on the circularity principles from figure 3.2, has provided additional input for the model. Appendix L shows an unstructured collection of design strategies that have resulted from the first stage of literature research and ideation. A process of selecting, fine-tuning and categorising these strategies has resulted in the proposed model of figure 6.1, dispayed on the next page.

Before going into the contents of the model, the process of selection deserves some more explanation. The utility of design strategies highly depends on the context to which they are applied. One especially relevant aspect of this context is the kind of product that is to be designed. For instance, a strategy to design for cascaded use cycles is only appropriate to a product that consists of biological materials, like a wooden table or bed frame. And design for disassembly hardly applies to products that consists of a single component, like plastic cups or paper trays. Given these dependencies, it is not feasible to develop a comprehensive and generally applicable set of design strategies within the scope of this study. Instead, the design strategies in the proposed model have been selected for their applicability to the domestic boiler. This means the strategies relate to, amongst others, energy consumption, technical resources, and a product structure that consists of multiple components and materials. As a result of this focus, the proposed design strategy model is applicable to the development of domestic boilers. Considering the similar characteristics of other products in Remeha’s portfolio, it is assumed that the model can be applied to their development as well. Furthermore, it is probable that the model also (partly) applies to products from different industries, like refrigerators or washing machines. However, this requires more analysis to state with certainty.

This section has so far explained why and how the design strategy model is developed and what the constraints are to its applicability. Now, the contents of the model will be briefly discussed in terms of the six categories that are shown in figure 6.1.

• Design for long life: When products can be used longer, it generally requires less products (and resources) to serve a need over a given amount of time. When designing a product for a longer life time, it should be able to offer persistent benefit in the most resource efficient way. This does not always mean the longer the life time the better. For instance, a boiler from 25 years ago is considerably less energy-efficient than today’s technology. From a resource perspective, its replacement could be more effective as the enhanced efficiency of new boilers compensate with energy savings in the long run.

• Design for product-service system: New business models could inspire new value propositions to meet the customer’s needs. This, in turn, influences what and how products are designed. The product-service system, as discussed in chapter 5,

104!!!Chapter 6 DESIGN FOR LONG LIFE DESIGN FOR PRODUCT- SERVICE SYSTEM INCREASE DESIRABILITY SELECT LOW-IMPACT MATERIALS DESIGN FOR REVERSE CYCLES REDUCE RESOURCE INTENSITY

organise reverse cycles

proritise the future create mutual benefit

be resource effective think in systems

DESIGN STRATEGY CATEGORY

LEGEND CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRINCIPLES

Upgrade components during the use phase to increase performance Design a product to function over multiple consecutive use cycles for various users

Maintain and repair the condition and functionality of components during the use phase

Design new value propositions to meet customer needs

Incorporate service development in de product development process Apply user-centred design techniques to specify and validate solutions Monitor products across the lifecycle to direct service and innovation

Adapt product functionality to changing customer needs and technological developments

Create new relations between the customer and the product Configure product features for individual customer demands

Design the product for easy dis- and re-assembly of components Standardise product features within product portfolio, between supply chains or across sectors

Design a modular product architecture

Improve product performance to reduce energy consumption Dematerialise/virtualise product functionality

Influence user behaviour to use energy efficiently Apply advanced technologies and materials

Create value from restored resources Design for reduced GHG emission

Design energy-using products to operate on renewable energy input 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

focuses not at the product itself but at the function it delivers. Moreover, service becomes a more integrated part of the proposition. This new position of the product in the value proposition argues for a reconsideration of the product definition, more fundamentally centred around the customer’s needs.

• Increase desirability: Designing a product for a long lifespan is about a product’s qualitative and functional relevance. Increasing the desirability of a product focuses at relating the product to the customer’s (changing) needs. This promotes the usefulness of the product and motivates the customer to use the product for its full lifespan.

• Design for reverse cycles: In a circular economy, it is essential that products and their embedded resources can return to the value chain at the end of their lifecycle. Reverse cycles are the processes that treat end-of-life product to recover and restore their value in terms of function, material, and energy. How a product is designed, greatly influences the options for restoring value through reverse cycles. For instance, glued components are difficult to disassemble for reuse and composite materials can hardly be recycled.

• Reduce resource intensity: Reducing resource intensity is a more traditional approach that aims to simply use less resources in the first place. Can a boiler be made from fewer resources while preserving its necessary function and quality? Functions could be delivered in more integrated ways or advanced materials could be used to realise the same structural integrity with fewer materials. • Select low-impact materials: the use of certain materials can have a negative

impact to surrounding systems in different stages of the product lifecycle. For instance, toxic substances can enter the environment when certain materials are incinerated or disposed to the soil. Also, more waste is produced or more energy consumed for the mining and production of certain materials. From this perspective, recycled materials are generally preferred over virgin materials. Having established the design strategy model, the question remains how it should be applied to Remeha’s product development. It has been stated that all strategies are suitable for Remeha’s development, but their relevance varies for different projects in in light of different objectives or constrains. Moreover, in terms of implementation it is assumed not to be feasible or effective to utilise all strategies at the same time. Therefore, specific strategies need to be selected for particular situations. In this regard the design strategy model represents the elective space. Within the context of this research, two approaches to selecting an appropriate strategy from the model seem particularly interesting. The first is to develop a structured method that relates design strategies to context variables like product characteristics or development objectives. Such method would help Remeha to select appropriate strategies for particular situations. However, this direction would leave less room within this research to specify how a selection of a design strategy translates into design decisions. The second approach is to select a specific design strategy that is relevant to Remeha’s current

106!!!Chapter 6

situation and needs. This direction allows to go deeper into the actual realisation of a particular strategy through design decisions, but it does not equip Remeha to select a different strategy for a different situation in the future.

Both directions answer to the need for implementing sustainability in the product development process, but they result in solutions that operate on different levels. One more strategic and the other more practical. The R&D stakeholders preferred a result that could be utilised by their engineers and would help them to develop tangible product solutions. Therefore, it has been decided to adopt the second approach. A specific design strategy will be selected from the model and a tool will be developed that enables the realisation of this strategy through design decisions.