| 1. |
- Kambanou, Marianna Lena, 1985-
(författare)
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Life Cycle Costing : Supporting companies towards a circular economy
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Increased consumption has resulted in the depletion of non-renewable resources and an explosion in waste. A circular economy proposes to sustain economic growth but decouple it from resource consumption by keeping products and materials in the economy. Established companies have an important role to play because they can implement maintenance, repair, remanufacture, recycling and other circular measures to their offerings, thus facilitating their retention in the economy. When applying circular measures to existing products, their costs and revenues change across the lifecycle, sometimes significantly, thereby calling into question the financial viability of the more circular offering. Life cycle costing (LCC), an existing method for calculating the costs of a product or service across the lifecycle, can help companies take stock of these changes. LCC can also be used in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessment, a method for assessing the environmental impacts of a product or service across the lifecycle.The aim of this research, therefore, is to explore how LCC can be used to support established companies in selecting and implementing circular measures to their offerings. The research is conducted through case studies involving four companies, and data is collected through literature reviews, document and cost data sets analysis, interviews and focus groups. The findings are based on six publications.The identified uses for LCC go beyond the ones that lead to its selection and are commonly discussed in the literature. Firstly, the difference in material cost between the alternatives being compared can be calculated from the LCC results. This can be used as an indicator of the alternatives’ comparative circularity performance. LCC can also provide input to designers on which parts of the offering to prioritize applying a circular measure, as well as cost exchangeability. One of the most significant uses is that LCC can help create awareness, build up an understanding and provide a forum for discussing the challenges associated with implementing circular measures, such as the changing financial incentive structure, uncertainty, improvement areas for information systems and mismatches in stakeholders’ financial incentives. This use is critical in helping individuals and companies overcome mind-set and cultural barriers to a circular economy. Finally, LCC can spread the lifecycle idea and evidence the need for life cycle management (LCM), but may lead to a narrower understanding of the term life cycle and put the focus exclusively on resources rather than environmental impacts.Another finding is that companies, despite the many uses, may not use LCC because it contests elements of their extant practices, such as collective knowledge, mind-set of individuals and symbolic and material objects. It is the outcome of this contestation that will play a significant role in determining if LCC is used.The research also identifies methodological considerations, either generally applicable or specifically relating to the identified uses. For example, data displays and disseminating results are key when using LCC to understand challenges. A key methodological consideration when using LCC to compare alternatives from a financial perspective is whether the alternatives are of equal functionality and value for the customer. If not, the customer’s willingness to pay will change, and revenue will need to be calculated. Apart from companies, this is an important consideration for researchers using LCC to build up a body of knowledge on the economic benefits of more circular offerings compared to business-as-usual. Another issue concerns boundary setting and what to include in the life cycle, which should be decided in a multidisciplinary team. The same is recommended for the majority of methodological choices. Concerning future LCC methodological development, the variety of uses should be acknowledged and explicitly addressed. The reasons for not adopting LCC should also be addressed, and method development should consider how to support establishing LCC as a practice over time so that it improves and becomes routinized. This also means that companies should approach LCC in the same way. In line with this, more effort needs to be put into understanding why LCC is not adopted and developing the methodology to overcome the reasons. Finally, this research demonstrates that LCC can have more uses than at first apparent. Maybe this can inspire researchers to re-examine methods and tools and, in the spirit of a circular economy, try “to do more with less”.
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| 2. |
- Neramballi, Abhijna, 1993-
(författare)
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Product-Service System Designing for Environmental Sustainability : Insights into Design Cognition of Experienced Product Developers
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall objective of this research is to support practitioners within the manufacturing industry to effectively design product-service system (PSS)-based solutions with relatively lower environmental impacts than typical product-centric solutions. Design research methodology (DRM) is applied to systematically address this objective with both descriptive and prescriptive approaches. The research draws empirical insights from a pool of 68 experienced product developers from the manufacturing industry. Initially, a generic model to predict the variant nature of domain-specific design cognition is conceptualized. Using this conceptual framework, differences in design cognition between conceptual product and PSS designing are theoretically predicted and empirically tested using protocol analysis. Based on a statistical comparison of the findings, the cognitive nature of PSS designing is descriptively characterized in relation to that of typical product designing. The results suggest that PSS designing is more problem-focused and applies a similar level of focus on the highest level of systems abstraction as product designing. A deeper investigation into PSS designing revealed that compared to product aspects, relatively less focus was afforded to the service aspects, interactions between product and service aspects, and the aspects regarding the overall PSS. Based on these findings, it was inferred that the cohort might need PSS domain-specific support to effectively design such systems. Three design support prescriptions were developed based on the improved understanding of the cognitive characteristics of PSS designing. One of these prescriptions, termed the PSS design schema, was developed using the method of literature analysis and synthesis. The other two prescriptions, termed lifecycle function deployment (LFD) and systemic lifecycle engineering, were developed using the method of action design research (ADR). Subsequently, the effects of the PSS design schema were descriptively tested using protocol analysis, and those of the other two prescriptions were assessed with a lifecycle assessment (LCA) of the design outcomes. The effects of the PSS design schema point towards significant changes in the cognitive characteristics of PSS designing. The effects of the other two prescriptions point towards significant reductions in the potential environmental impacts of the concepts when compared with the respective existing productcentric offerings that were redesigned using the support. Based on these empirical findings, the conceptual framework is refined and extended to conceptualize and hypothesize the interplays of pre-existing domain-specific knowledge of the designers and the effects of design support on design cognition.
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| 3. |
- Neramballi, Abhijna, 1993-
(författare)
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Understanding and Supporting Product-Service System Designing : Preliminary Insights and Support for Designing Resource-Efficient and Effective Solutions
- 2020
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This licentiate thesis aims to establish the basis for scientifically understanding and supporting the cognitive processes involved in the conceptual design of resource- efficient and effective product-service systems (PSSs). The research carried out is transdisciplinary in nature and includes both prescriptive and descriptive studies.First, the cognitive nature of conceptual PSS designing is investigated. Multiple pre-experimental protocol studies in a laboratory setting are carried out to do so. The cohort of these explorative studies includes experienced industrial practitioners conceptually designing a resource-efficient PSS. These descriptive studies provide quantitative insights into the cognitive effort expended by designers on various design issues and processes during conceptual PSS designing and its potential differences to conceptual product designing. These insights form the basis for future research that can eventually shine light on this complex process with statistically significant empirical results.Second, the essence of extant prescriptive PSS design principles, methods and tools is distilled through a literature analysis and synthesis of the state of the art. Subsequently, important aspects that need to be considered during conceptual PSS designing are consolidated in the form of a PSS design schema.Third, a design navigator named lifecycle-oriented function deployment (LFD) is developed. LFD is essentially a contextual decision-making support tool, developed to guide the conceptual designing of environmentally benign PSSs. This tool informs the designers regarding the potential environmental impacts of specific design parameters of an existing offering. It subsequently guides the designers in the redesign of this existing offering into a PSS with relatively benign environmental impacts.Fourth, the effects of the two proposed prescriptions are tested empirically. True experimental protocol studies are carried out in a laboratory setting to test the effects of the prescriptive PSS design schema on the cognition of PSS designers. LFD is applied in an industrial case study using the action design research method, to support the conceptual redesign of an existing product-centric offering into an environmentally benign PSS. Environmental impacts of the PSS concepts generated using LFD are then evaluated in comparison to that of the existing offering, using simulated lifecycle assessment. A semi-structured interview is carried out to evaluate the utility and usability of LFD, with the company personnel involved in the conceptual redesign process.This licentiate thesis is an effort to effectively design the future research work of the author. This future work will aim to support and establish generalizable scientific knowledge regarding the conceptual designing of resource-efficient and effective PSSs.
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| 4. |
- Laurenti, Rafael, 1980-
(författare)
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Applications of Systems Thinking within the Sustainability Domain : Product Design, Product Systems and Stakeholder Perspectives
- 2013
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Many of the sustainability challenges our society currently face have arisen as unanticipated side effects of our own modern developments. This thesis investigates if unintended consequences and perspectives are fully addressed by traditional methods for providing decision-making support within the sustainability domain. For that purpose, Systems Thinking is utilised in three cases: in the first, Systems Thinking is used to analyse sustainability issues relating to the current product design paradigm. In the second case, Systems Thinking is applied to two product systems – household washing machines and conventional passenger vehicles. The third case discusses different stakeholder perspectives in environmental decision-making and proposes a way to combine the ESA tools LCA, LCC and CBA in order to consider the different stakeholder perspectives. Results of the first case point out that the practices within the current design paradigm are focused on innovations and improvements in material and energy efficiency. These practices have led to the following unintended consequences: consumption rebound effects, increased waste, pollution, negative externalities, economic inequalities and other environmental and social negative impacts. These unintended consequences are represented in a Causal Loop Diagram (CLD). The diagram graphically illustrates how these unintended consequences influence one another and interact by means of cause-effect linkages and reinforcing feedback loops. A novel conceptual framework named Sustainability-Driven Systems-Oriented Design is proposed to work within broader system boundaries in order to address possible negative side effects that micro-level gains could have on macro-level losses. In the case of the two product systems, a CLD for household washing machines and conventional passenger vehicles is developed. The CLDs represent how selected variables interact by means of cause-effect associations to affect environmental impacts of the products. The CLD technique appears to be a useful way to connect quantitative assessment (from Life Cycle Assessment) with qualitative analysis (from Systems Thinking). In the third case it is argued that stakeholders tend to adopt different system boundaries and make assumptions according to their perspective when they use ESA tools in environmental decision-making. A way to combine ESA tools is suggested to facilitate the observation of the environmental decision from different viewpoints. It concludes, to some extent, that traditional methods for providing decision-making support can handle certain parameters that may result in unintended consequences. Systems Thinking may assist in the process of performing qualitative analyses of what is important to consider in order to strengthen the robustness of, and improve on the recommended actions from, quantitative detailed analyses.
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| 5. |
- Liu, Yu
(författare)
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Integrating life cycle assessment into simulation-based decision support
- 2022
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Increasing marketing and legislative requirements put heavy demands on the environmental performance of future transportation solutions. The resulting need to reduce total environmental impacts presents both challenges and opportunities to the transport sector as a whole, including the automotive industry. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is commonly used to evaluate environmental performance in the automotive industry. However, the static nature of LCAlimits its usefulness for capturing dynamic environmental consequences in the manufacturing and operational phase. This thesis proposes a simulation-based approach to LCA that addresses this problem. Selected real-world case studies demonstrate the potential of the approach in both vehicle production processes and end-user applications. The work was preceded by a comprehensive review of the potential benefits and challenges of using simulation-based LCA in production processes. This review laid the foundation for the development and implementation of this method inthe automotive industry. Two real-world case studies demonstrate its value. The first was a waste collection case study in which LCA was integrated in an existing simulation-based decision support tool to optimize the company’s activities froma life cycle environmental impact perspective. A simultaneously developed simulation-based LCA model of an iron foundry production line extended the applicability of the method with a proposed decision support interpretation approach. The study shows that data and information from both simulation model and LCA databases can be integrated and utilized in the developed simulation-based LCA method. This allows different systems with different configurations to be combined to assess the relevant parameters, and eventually to provide information about overall environmental impacts to decision makers to improvethe environmental sustainability of the automotive industry.
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| 6. |
- Matschewsky, Johannes, 1987-
(författare)
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Effective and efficient design and provision of product-service systems : challenges, opportunities, and solutions
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The world manufacturing companies operate in is changing. In the past, these companies relied on the design and sale of products. Today, this linear model of business is becoming increasingly insufficient. As customers are more and more focused on their core business, buying and operating machinery and other goods becomes unattractive to them. In response to this, manufacturing companies are expanding their value capture into additional stages of the product lifecycle by providing integrated offerings of products and services — Product-Service Systems (PSSs).Designing and providing PSSs is fundamentally different from traditional product sales. Expanding to become a PSS provider is, therefore, challenging for companies with a history of designing and selling products. Departing from this, it is the aim of this thesis to support manufacturing companies in their expansion to effective and efficient design and provision of PSSs. The research reported has both descriptive and prescriptive properties, reflecting the goals of understanding the status quo in manufacturing companies’ practice and providing support based on this.To establish a point of departure, the current design and provision of two manufacturing companies expanding their business towards PSSs was investigated. From this, an in-depth understanding of the status quo and a number of challenges emerged.Based on this, the research had the goal to contribute to identifying and developing solutions to these challenges, with an initial focus on methods supporting PSS design and provision. However, although methods fitting to the challenges identified exist, they appear to receive limited uptake in manufacturing companies’ practice. In order to improve their practical utility, a structured method is proposed to assist users in both academia and practice in developing methods in a requirements-oriented fashion. The utility of methods in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of PSS design and provision is thereby to be enhanced.A particular challenge for manufacturing companies expanding to become PSS providers is the change in how value is captured: Resulting from the extensive involvement throughout the lifecycle, a need for a broader, multidimensional understanding of value capture was identified. However, the manufacturing companies investigated have been found to experience challenges in grasping this change, with a focus on a product sales-centric understanding of value capture remaining prevalent. To support companies towards reaping the benefits of the expansion to PSS design and provision, methods to explore how value is currently created and captured in the use phase and how to enhance the future value capture based on that information in the design phase have been developed and applied. As a result, broadly relevant value dimensions were attained, aiming to facilitate a lifecycle-focused, effective, and efficient design and provision of PSSs.Eventually, to broaden the understanding of effective and efficient design and provision of PSSs in practice today, the potential contributions of real-world PSSs to a circular economy were investigated based on an existing framework. The result was ambiguous, indicating both advancements compared to traditional sales and substantial room for improvement, particularly with a focus on the absolute decoupling of economic activity and resource use.Based on the synthesis of the research results, manufacturing companies are supported in their expansion to effective and efficient design and provision of PSSs — and towards a promising future.
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| 7. |
- Matschewsky, Johannes, 1987-
(författare)
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What’s in it for the Provider? : A Lifecycle-Focused Approach towards Designing for Value in Product-Service Systems
- 2016
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Combining products and services into Product-Service Systems (PSS), which are often owned and even operated by the company offering them, is seen as an important element of conducting more sustainable business. The prospective environmental benefits of PSS lie mainly in the improved resource- and operational efficiency. This is achieved by way of a critical shift in incentive structure: If an industrial company assumes responsibility for an offering throughout the lifecycle, the terms on which that company operates are changed substantially in comparison to traditional product sales. Instead of benefiting from a short lifetime through additional sales opportunities or making profit through the sale of spare parts, in highly integrated PSS, each parts exchange, each technicians’ visit and each day the lifetime of the offering is reduced directly affects the bottom line of the provider. Due to that, solely as a result of economic rationality, a provider of these offerings has an incentive to design in such a way that the life of this offering is prolonged, need for spare parts is reduced, service activities are facilitated and simplified, and that the conditions are in place to allow for a second or third life of the offering through remanufacturing. Regardless of this compelling logic, at times, industrial companies fail to establish the preconditions to capturing these benefits as they continue to rely on product and sales-centric design processes even though they provide PSS.This thesis aims to examine this unexploited opportunity from two vantage points. On the one hand, methods conceived in academia to support industry in implementing and executing joint, lifecycle-focused design of products and services, and the use of these methods in practice, are examined. Here, the focus firstly lies on understanding how PSS are designed today, and secondly, on what should change about PSS design methods to improve their implementability and usability in industrial practice, so that they can fulfill their supposed role as facilitators of efficient PSS design and operation. On the other hand, the possible benefits of providing specifically designed and lifecycle-focused PSS as an industrial company are in focus. To this end, the value attained by providers throughout the use phase of PSS is investigated, to then identify possible approaches towards enhancing this value. Eventually, both focus-areas are joined in an effort to examine the interaction between method-supported, lifecycle-oriented PSS design and the value attained by providers of such offerings.As a result of the research, a lacking adaptation of design processes to PSS is identified in the case companies. Further, shortcomings of PSS design methods conceived in academia, e.g. excessive complexity, lacking clarity and rigidity, are found in both literature as well as in a study with an industrial company. To take a first step towards rectifying this issue, six characteristics intended to enhance implementability and usability of PSS design methods, are presented. The value attained by PSS providers has been found to be a complex but important subject. In a case study, value determinants of high relevance to the use phase of the lifecycle have been identified and assessed for their utility as indicators in the evaluation and enhancement of PSS offerings in the design phase. The practitioners involved were supportive of the applicability of the systematic approach presented to capture more value through offering PSS.In joining both the value- and method-oriented approach, the mutual dependency of both aspects is discussed. In order to provide PSS in an economically and environmentally efficient fashion, adapting the existing design processes is imperative. The value attained by the provider can, complementary to existing customer-centric approaches, serve as an important goal for the adaptation of design processes. Ultimately, through understanding the change in incentive structure at the core of PSS, and through implementing a value-driven design process supported by efficient and effective methods aimed at providing both customer value and capturing provider benefits throughout the lifecycle, there is a genuine potential of conducting more sustainable business.
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| 8. |
- Bossér, Ulrika, 1976-
(författare)
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Exploring the complexities of integrating socioscientific issues in science teaching
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Socioscientific issues, SSI, can briefly be described as societal issues in which science plays a role. Dealing with SSI in science education is a means to prepare and empower students for active and responsible participation in a complex, democratic society. The implementation of SSI-based teaching calls for classroom practices in which scientific evidence alongside for example social and ethical perspectives are considered. Discourse-based teaching activities are emphasized as a means to provide opportunities for students to practice negotiations of SSI and explore diverse viewpoints on the issues. Dealing with SSI in science teaching is recognized as a challenging task for science teachers. This thesis aims to provide knowledge to support the implementation of SSI-based science teaching. Three studies involving two upper secondary school science teachers are performed to achieve this aim. The first study makes use of video-stimulated discussions to investigate the two teachers’reflections on their classroom practices while they implement SSI throughout an academic year. The second study utilizes the concept positioning as a tool to identify and describe the ways in which one teacher’s interactions with students during group work make available different parts for the students to play as participants, when dealing with SSI in the classroom. The third study makes use of the concept communicative approach to investigate how the two teachers’ management of classroom discussions sets conditions for the consideration of multiple perspectives relevant to SSI, including the students’ viewpoints. The results provide knowledge useful when making considerations about the design and enactment of teaching activities in relation to specific educational goals. The results suggest that a specific challenge with designing and enacting SSI-based teaching activities is to balance between controlling and directing the teaching activities to promote specific learning goals and providing space for students’ participation and perspectives. The results of employing the analytical tools elucidate how this challenge can play out in classroom practice and contribute with knowledge of the ways in which teachers’ discursive practices play a role in addressing this challenge. Strategies to support teachers’ implementation of SSI-based teaching that take account of teachers’ existing practices are discussed.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Lingegård, Sofia
(författare)
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Integrated Product Service Offerings for Rail and Road Infrastructure : Reviewing Applicability in Sweden
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This research aims to explore and propose a more effective management of rail and road infrastructure and the possibility of a more resource-efficient road and rail infrastructure by applying business models based on performance and a life-cycle perspective.There is a lack of efficiency in the Swedish rail and road infrastructure industries - at the same time as the availability of the rail tracks and roads is essential. Rail and road infrastructure have long lifetimes, around 40-60 years, and during these decades regular maintenance and reconstruction are needed to ensure proper function. Large amounts of resources are required to construct the infrastructure, and the overall environmental pressure depends substantially on this.This research is largely based on interviews conducted with the buyer, contractors and design consultants for rail and road infrastructure in Sweden. Literature reviews have been conducted to develop the framework needed to analyze the empirical findings. This research contributes by building on theory in areas such as Integrated Product Service Offerings (IPSOs) and eco-design, and this abstract presents a brief summary of the overall conclusions.Several challenges for rail and road infrastructure in Sweden have been identified, such as the lack of information and knowledge transfer between different projects and actors. This is due to e.g. the use of traditional short-term contracts and conservative cooperate cultures, creating sub-optimizations in management. Increased collaboration, through e.g. partnering, seems to be a promising way to increase the information and knowledge transfer between actors by increasing trust and interaction. In this way, management would be more effective, and by involving contractors in the design phase, more efficient technical solutions could be developed and used. Additionally, increased involvement by the design consultants and an iterative information loop between design, construction and maintenance could also be beneficial. The research indicates that increased cooperation increases trust. In this way, there is a possibility to remove the detailed requirements that prevent new ways of working.Rail and road infrastructure have characteristics, such as the resources used and the importance of availability, that are well-suited for IPSOs. This performance-based business model with a life-cycle perspective provides incentives to optimize the use of resources and provide a holistic view for management that is lacking today for rail and road infrastructure. However, a long-term contract such as an IPSO creates uncertainties. The actors are risk-averse, which is an obstacle in the development of new business models and contract forms. Most of the risks and uncertainties identified are due to lack of experience. This implies that an implementation of IPSOs will have a steep learning curve. Additionally, risk allocation between the actors is important for effective management: too much risk for the suppliers will make them reluctant in developing new solutions, and they will use a risk premium to cover up for the risk.
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