Industry 4 0 And Circular Economy

How the marriage of Industry 4.0 and the Circular Economy can radically transform waste management—and our world Do we really have to make a choice between a wasteless and nonproductive world or a wasteful and ultimately self-destructive one? Futurist and world-renowned waste management scientist Antonis Mavropoulos and sustainable business developer and digital strategist Anders Nilsen respond with a ringing and optimistic “No!” They explore the Earth-changing potential of a happy (and wasteless) marriage between Industry 4.0 and a Circular Economy that could—with properly reshaped waste management practices—deliver transformative environmental, health, and societal benefits. This book is about the possibility of a brand-new world and the challenges to achieve it. The fourth industrial revolution has given us innovations including robotics, artificial intelligence, 3D-printing, and biotech. By using these technologies to advance the Circular Economy—where industry produces more durable materials and runs on its own byproducts—the waste management industry will become a central element of a more sustainable world and can ensure its own, but well beyond business as usual, future. Mavropoulos and Nilsen look at how this can be achieved—a wasteless world will require more waste management—and examine obstacles and opportunities such as demographics, urbanization, global warming, and the environmental strain caused by the rise of the global middle class. · Explore the new prevention, reduction, and elimination methods transforming waste management · Comprehend and capitalize on the business implications for the sector · Understand the theory via practical examples and case studies · Appreciate the social benefits of the new approach Waste-management has always been vital for the protection of health and the environment. Now it can become a crucial role model in showing how Industry 4.0 and the Circular Economy can converge to ensure flourishing, sustainable—and much brighter—future.

This book is purposefully styled as an introductory textbook on circular economy (CE) for the benefit of educators and students of universities. It provides comprehensive knowledge exemplified by practices from policy, education, R&D, innovation, design, production, waste management, business and financing around the world. The book covers sectors such as agriculture/food, packaging materials, build environment, textile, energy, and mobility to inspire the growth of circular business transformation. It aims to stimulate action among different stakeholders to drive CE transformation. It elaborates critical driving forces of CE including digital technologies; restorative innovations; business opportunities & sustainable business model; financing instruments, regulation & assessment and experiential education programs. It connects a CE transformation for reaching the SDGs2030 and highlights youth leadership and entrepreneurship at all levels in driving the sustainability transformation.

The book discusses the opportunities and challenges of managing knowledge in the new reality of Industry 4.0. Addressing paradigmatic changes in value creation due to the development of digital technologies applied to manufacturing (additive manufacturing, IoT, robotics, etc.), it includes theoretical and empirical contributions on how Industry 4.0 technologies allow firms to create and exploit knowledge. The carefully selected expert contributions highlight the potential of these technologies in acquiring knowledge from a larger number of sources and examine approaches to innovation, organization of activities, and stakeholder development in the context of this next industrial revolution.

How can companies survive and prosper in the new economic age of the 4th Industrial Revolution? This book collects a variety of cases and quality management strategies for companies to put in place in the face of Industry 4.0. It argues that organizations that practice good quality management throughout the whole organization, and focus on satisfying their customers, employees and other stakeholders better than their competitors, are well equipped with the necessary capabilities to survive. It is a must read book for academicians, practitioners, managers and students interested in learning about the quality management philosophy, principles, tools and methods to be used in building a sustainable future where the challenges of the 4th Industrial Revolution — Industry 4.0 —are regarded and used as opportunities for survival and further growth.

The two-volume set IFIP AICT 566 and 567 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International IFIP WG 5.7 Conference on Advances in Production Management Systems, APMS 2019, held in Austin, TX, USA. The 161 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 184 submissions. They discuss globally pressing issues in smart manufacturing, operations management, supply chain management, and Industry 4.0. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: lean production; production management in food supply chains; sustainability and reconfigurability of manufacturing systems; product and asset life cycle management in smart factories of industry 4.0; variety and complexity management in the era of industry 4.0; participatory methods for supporting the career choices in industrial engineering and management education; blockchain in supply chain management; designing and delivering smart services in the digital age; operations management in engineer-to-order manufacturing; the operator 4.0 and the Internet of Things, services and people; intelligent diagnostics and maintenance solutions for smart manufacturing; smart supply networks; production management theory and methodology; data-driven production management; industry 4.0 implementations; smart factory and IIOT; cyber-physical systems; knowledge management in design and manufacturing; collaborative product development; ICT for collaborative manufacturing; collaborative technoloy; applications of machine learning in production management; and collaborative technology.

The circular economy describes a world in which reuse through repair, reconditioning and refurbishment is the prevailing social and economic model. The business opportunities are huge but developing product and service offerings and achieving competitive advantage means rethinking your business model from early creativity and design processes, through marketing and communication to pricing and supply. Designing for the Circular Economy highlights and explores ‘state of the art’ research and industrial practice, highlighting CE as a source of: new business opportunities; radical business change; disruptive innovation; social change; and new consumer attitudes. The thirty-four chapters provide a comprehensive overview of issues related to product circularity from policy through to design and development. Chapters are designed to be easy to digest and include numerous examples. An important feature of the book is the case studies section that covers a diverse range of topics related to CE, business models and design and development in sectors ranging from construction to retail, clothing, technology and manufacturing. Designing for the Circular Economy will inform and educate any companies seeking to move their business models towards these emerging models of sustainability; organizations already working in the circular economy can benchmark their current activities and draw inspiration from new applications and an understanding of the changing social and political context. This book will appeal to both academia and business with an interest in CE issues related to products, innovation and new business models.