ReCiPSS-D7.5 - Pilot evaluation report
Creators: name: Amir, Saman
name: Lieder, Michael
name: Wagner, Markus
name: Bolech, Michael
name: Kuntz, Dominik
name: Kärsten, Frances
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Circular manufacturing systems
Automotive Pilot
Circular Economy
Service platform
Remanufacturing
Core Managagement
Value Recovery

description: This report aims to summarize the journey of the automotive demonstrator, including the need for the ReCiPSS platform, the setting-up of the ReCiPSS platform, and the benefits (technical, financial, and environmental) achieved due to the platform. The need for the ReCiPSS platform is evident from the reverse logistics of used products or components in the following, further referred to as cores, for remanufacturing in the circular economy is overly complex since the forward and reverse logistics must be seamlessly integrated for efficient core collection. Even in a simple reverse supply chain consisting of automotive workshops, wholesaler outlets, wholesaler central, and remanufactured, repeated inspections do not provide any substantial financial or logistical benefit but increase the complexity and risk of core returns for all stakeholders involved. The main goal for the demo phase was to physically handle and return up to 80,000 cores from the automotive workshops to the remanufacturers. This was shown by digitally incorporating the concept of the “right to return a core” and making it transferable in the independent automotive aftermarket. To demonstrate the service, two wholesalers were involved which collected more than 90,000 cores during the project period until November 2022. During the pilot, the cores were identified based on technical criteria and were evaluated and accepted/rejected based on the specific technical and commercial guidelines of the individual remanufacturers. All process stages (identification, evaluation, sorting) have been implemented as an automated workflow using the ReCiPSS automotive platform and the CoremanNet data management system. The ReCiPSS platform compiles and provides extensive reports on core return options to understand and control the commercial opportunities and risks. This reduces the complexity for the wholesalers, as they can make an informed decision about whether to accept or reject a core and where to route it. The major challenges for the core return flow were multiple inspections and evaluations without any value addition and unclear crediting conditions for the stakeholders involved, such as wholesalers and remanufacturers. The identification process dealt with identifying the core as precisely as possible. The evaluation criteria include not only a technical, physical, or visual evaluation of the state of the part but also a commercial evaluation. The commercial evaluation is taken care of by specialized IT systems, which enhances the decision-making for the evaluation of the cores. The intention behind processing many cores was to understand the applicability and relevance of the new concept on an industrial scale and to develop a statistically significant case that could be used to support circularity in the future. The resulting benefits span from reduced complexity of core management to improved transparency due to the implementation of procedures for commercial compensation of cores. The trust in core management is strengthened, and the commercial value is better understood and estimated with enhanced visibility in the ReCiPSS platform. This in turn, will pave the way for strengthening the circular economy within the remanufacturing business and improving the resource efficiency of materials in general.