Fraunhofer-Institut für Produktionsanlagen und Konstruktionstechnik IPK

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  • Publication
    Digital Twins within the Circular Economy: Literature Review and Concept Presentation
    ( 2024-03-26)
    Mügge, Janine
    ;
    Seegrün, Anne
    ;
    Hoyer, Tessa-Katharina
    ;
    Riedelsheimer, Theresa
    ;
    Lindow, Kai
    Digital twins offer a promising approach to sustainable value creation by providing specific life cycle data and enabling the monitoring and implementation of circular economy strategies throughout the product’s life cycle. By analyzing product, component, and material data, as well as process data, it is possible to create transparency throughout a product’s life cycle, build a data-driven product ecosystem, and establish new business and value creation models, from SMEs to large enterprises. This paper identifies application scenarios, their technological readiness level, and the challenges of digital twins for the circular economy in the manufacturing industry based on a systematic literature review. Gaps such as ensuring a continuous flow of information and taking into account the different levels of digitalization of companies are identified. As a main result, a holistic concept for the scoping of a digital twin for the circular economy is presented. One specific use case for end-of-life decision-making is elaborated upon. It is shown that the circular economy can be supported by digital twin data, especially for the optimal decision on end-of-life vehicles.
  • Publication
    Empowering End-of-Life Vehicle Decision Making with Cross-Company Data Exchange and Data Sovereignty via Catena-X
    ( 2023)
    Mügge, Janine
    ;
    Große Erdmann, Julian
    ;
    Riedelsheimer, Theresa
    ;
    Manoury, Marvin Michael
    ;
    Smolka, Sophie Odette
    ;
    Wichmann, Sabine
    ;
    Lindow, Kai
    The mobility sector is the world’s second-largest producer of energy-related CO2 emissions, and it is facing a global resource shortage. The demand for circular products, the use of secondary materials in future vehicles, and the need for sustainable business models in the mobility sector is increasing. However, a transparent and end-to-end data exchange throughout the entire value network is missing, which is hindering an efficient circular economy. Relevant information on the vehicle, its components, and materials at the end of the product life cycle are often missing. In this context, this paper presents a decision support system based on Digital Twin data for a circular economy solution as a software application. It was developed within the German research project Catena-X following an integrated approach of user-centered design, the V-model, and within the Scaled Agile Framework. By combining these methodological approaches, customer-oriented solutions were developed and continuously improved at each stage of development to shorten the time-to-market. Catena-X is based on Gaia-X principles. In Gaia-X, necessary core services are developed, and contraction negotiation for data exchange and usage policies is enabled and implemented. The decision support system provides important information about the exact composition and condition of the vehicle, its components, and its materials. Thus, it helps to improve efficiency, sustainability, and the implementation of the circular economy. The decision support system was tested and validated with a use case that provided Digital Twin data on the end-of-life vehicle.
  • Publication
    Transition to a Circular Economy in Europe through New Business Models: Barriers, Drivers, and Policy Making
    ( 2023)
    Försterling, Gabi
    ;
    Orth, Ronald
    ;
    Gellert, Benjamin
    In recent years, because of global challenges resulting from increased resource shortages and the climate crisis, interest in and the commitment to transition to a more sustainable economic system, especially a circular economy, has increased among scientists, politicians, and practitioners in Europe. To create a system that maintains the value of products as long as possible and minimizes waste, new business models, so-called circular business models (CBMs), are required. So far, as a result of far-reaching barriers, no breakthrough regarding CBMs has been observed and there are a lack of comprehensive analyses on the barriers and drivers of CBMs. Using a systematic literature analysis, this gap was filled and 637 barriers and 394 drivers were extracted from 76 publications, which were categorized into eight areas and synthesized in a comprehensive framework. The results show that an undifferentiated analysis of CBMs could result in incorrect assumptions, as the barriers between them differ. Overall, however, the most significant effect on all CBMs is from external barriers at a macro level. In this paper, drivers, in the form of success factors and political measures, were assigned to concrete barriers, indicating that policy interventions are needed in Europe in order to overcome these barriers and accelerate systematic change. The article provides research, policy, and practice with a theoretically grounded basis for analyzing these barriers and overcoming them.
  • Publication
    Towards an open digital thread for electric mobility
    ( 2022)
    Weiher, Nils
    ;
    Mies, Robert
    ;
    Senge, Nicolas
    ;
    Gogineni, Sonika
    The material intensity and ongoing servitisation of electric mobility highlights the relevance of circular design concepts focussed on reuse, remanufacturing and recycling that contribute to the transition towards sustainable value creation. This paper gives an overview on technology trends that call for the development of an open digital thread (ODT) for electric mobility which is investigated as a tool in a digitalised, connected and collaborative circular economy. Thus, the ODT in our definition connects the stakeholders across all life cycle phases as integrated digital infrastructure of electric mobility. Using open data principles, it is envisaged to enable participation, cooperation and collaboration by creating interoperability based on accessibility and (re)usability of data. Taking a life cycle perspective reveals the potential of knowledge-based decision making to improve the environmental impacts and operational performance of electric mobility. The paper posits a definition for the ODT followed by a brief overview of relevant concepts and technologies for its development. The results of a systematic literature review are presented, to identify the implications of the circular economy for the ODT. These results provide a basis for future research, which should investigate the requirements of data ontologies for the ODT in electric mobility and beyond and the process requirements for a transition towards opening data in a bottom-up approach.
  • Publication
    Future of Business Models in Manufacturing
    ( 2017)
    Seidel, Johannes
    ;
    Barquet, Ana Paula
    ;
    Seliger, Günther
    ;
    Kohl, Holger
    In order to achieve systematic change in pursuit of sustainable manufacturing, both a strategic long-term perspective employing methods from future studies and a concrete implementation of the knowledge gained in sustainable business models are necessary. In this chapter, the concepts and exemplary methods for sustainable business model innovation are introduced with a special focus on sustainable manufacturing. Circular Economy-based business models and Product Service Systems are explained as examples of sustainable business models, along with a deduction of sustainability factors for both examples. The fruitful combination of future studies and sustainable business model development is illustrated in the example of a so-called living factory, a modular and adaptive production environment which integrates aspects of Circular Business Models and Product Service Systems.