Industry 4.0 and Smart Data as Enablers of the Circular Economy in Manufacturing: Product Re-Engineering with Circular Eco-Design

Marco Vacchi, Cristina Siligardi, Erika Iveth Cedillo-González, Anna Maria Ferrari and Davide Settembre-Blundo
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Marco Vacchi: Department of Engineering “Enzo Ferrari”, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Cristina Siligardi: Department of Engineering “Enzo Ferrari”, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Erika Iveth Cedillo-González: Department of Engineering “Enzo Ferrari”, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Anna Maria Ferrari: Department of of Sciences and Methods for Engineering, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 42122 Reggio Emilia, Italy
Davide Settembre-Blundo: Gruppo Ceramiche Gresmalt, Via Mosca 4, 41049 Sassuolo, Italy
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Davide Settembre Blundo

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-20

Abstract: The digital transformation of manufacturing firms, in addition to making operations more efficient, offers important opportunities both to promote the transition to a circular economy and to experiment with new techniques for designing smarter and greener products. This study integrates Industry 4.0 technologies, smart data, Life Cycle Assessment methodology, and material microstructural analysis techniques to develop and apply a circular eco-design model that has been implemented in the Italian ceramic tile manufacturing industry. The model has been initially adopted in a simulation environment to define five different scenarios of raw material supply, alternative to the current production one. The scenarios were then validated operationally at laboratory scale and in a pilot environment, demonstrating that a proper selection of raw material transport systems significantly improves the environmental performance of the ceramic product. Both the results of the laboratory tests and of the pre-industrial experiments have demonstrated the technological feasibility of the solutions identified with circular eco-design, enabling the re-engineering of the ceramic product as the fifth of the 6Rs of the circular economy.

Keywords: Industry 4.0; circular eco-design; re-engineering; sustainable manufacturing; smart data; raw material; ceramic tiles (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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