2019 Workshops

Utilising Smart Products and Big Data in Research on Product Lifetimes

Eduard Wagner, TU Berlin, Forschungsschwerpunkt Mikroperipherik
Erik Poppe, SUSTAINUM Institute for Sustainability
Okechukwu Okorie, The University of Exeter

The diffusion of digital technology into all parts of the economy, and the ever increasing number of smart products, entail unprecedented amount of generated data. The potential of this data needs to be explored and translated into sustainable solutions. The necessary process includes an understanding of IT infrastructure, data analysis and product design. The process also includes understanding the relationship between digital technologies such as Industry 4.0 and IoT, stakeholders and digital intelligencet.

Circular Strategies to Prolong Fashion Products’ Lifetime

Arianna Nicoletti, Future Forward Fashion e.V
Isabel Ordoñez, TU Berlin

The workshop will demonstrate a range of strategies to prolong the lifetime of specific products within the fashion industry. It will also help to understand constrains and potentials linked to the production areas, materials and design choices in terms of circularity. The workshop methodology combines the guide of “Close the loop”, developed by Flanders DC and Circular Flanders with workshop methodologies developed by Future Forward Fashion and Circular Berlin in their educational projects. 

Proactive Obsolescence Management – Solution to Supply Chain Disruptions

Bjoern Bartels, AMSYS GmbH – Applicable Management SYStems

Costly supply bottlenecks arise when a component, material, tool, process, assembly, software or standard necessary for the production or repair of a company‘s own product is no longer available from the manufacturer. This is known as ‘obsolescence‘. That is why it is becoming increasingly important to practice active management to reduce or completely avoid unplanned costs. Within a world café atmosphere we will discuss topics as Technical Issues & Solutions, Data Management and Managerial Tasks for an active Obsolescence Management.

The Sustainable Smartphone for the Future

Thomas Krause, SHIFT GmbH
Samuel Waldeck, SHIFT GmbH
Marina Proske, Fraunhofer IZM and TU Berlin
Jana Rückschloss, Fraunhofer IZM

The workshop builds on the existing experiences with modular design (Shift 6m, PuzzlePhone, Fairphone 2, Google ARA) and conceptual ideas (SHIFTmu, neptune). The future smartphone could combine different application areas, modularity could be seen not only as a product design, but as a general manufacturing approach over different device sizes and generations.

Fix the World: Repair Policy and Design Strategy Workshop

Jana Rückschloss, Fraunhofer IZM
Kyle Wiens, iFixit

Pop up repair workshop

Hands-on disassembly of electronic products. Train attendees on repairability scoring. Identify strategic opportunities for advancing repair-friendly policies and immediate actionable tasks. Discuss right to repair and where repair-friendly laws and policy proposals are moving.

How Long is Enough? – Testing for Premature Obsolescence

Anton Berwald and Olaf Wittler, Fraunhofer IZM

E-waste generation reached 48.5 million tons in 2018 and it is considered the fastest growing waste stream in the world. On a global level, only 20% of e-waste is treated properly and few data is available for the rest. One of the main principles of the circular economy is to keep products and materials in use as long as possible and therefore to prevent “premature obsolescence”. This workshop will discuss how robust product test procedures can support the development of more durable and longer lasting products by lowering information asymmetries between manufacturers and consumers. These test procedures should take into account the main issues of product failures and premature obsolescence, such as product reliability and durability. 

Make Your Own Experience with Circular Design – Use of the Simulation Game SIMPLYCYLCE in Teaching

Dr. Sonja Eser, Fachhochschule Salzburg

A change of mindset is needed to find our way into the Circular Economy. SIMPLYCYCLE is a simulation game that was designed to help develop a new thinking and personal competences for setting the course for cyclical metabolism. It teaches principles of Circular Design and is a practical tool to help participants to understand how to bring Circular Design into practice and to see the bigger picture.

Extending Lifetimes by Taking the Consumers’ Perspective into Account: A Toolkit to Support Design for Product Care

Laura Ackermann, Salzburg University of Applied Sciences
Mahana Tuimaka, Delft University of Technology

Prolonging a product’s lifetime is one of the main strategies of a Circular Economy, and strategies to encourage repair and maintenance activities conducted by the consumers are needed. We will present a toolkit that aims to support designers in considering product care strategies during their product development process. Product care includes all strategies that extend the lifetime of a product such as repair, maintenance and protective measures (Ackermann, Mugge, & Schoormans, 2018). Unfortunately, strategies on how to implement product care into product and service design are not well-known. The toolkit will be presented as a conference paper during PLATE 2019, and the workshop will give the participants the opportunity to experience the toolkit themselves.

If Everything Was Made from Lego There Would Be No Garbage – Hacking Things Modular with Pre-use!

Lars Zimmermann and Michi Muchina, OpenCircularity

Modularity is a key to a more sustainable world of products and consumption. This workshop will introduce two interesting concepts about “modularity for sustainable circularity”. We will discuss “Pre-Use” and “Hacking Modularity”. Pre-Use means to use something for something different than it was intended for but in a way that it still works for the initially intended use afterwards. Hacking Modularity points to the idea that the majority of things around us aren’t modular but approaching things like a hacker can change that at least for some things. After a quick theoretical introduction to these concepts participants will build quick own own statues and hacks at the conference venue using pre-use-techniques.

Hands-on – Product Lifetime Expectations for Electronic Textiles

Rachael Wickenden, Nottingham Trent University

Electronic textiles are being designed and manufactured in a way that limits product lifetime. This workshop offers participants the opportunity to examine hands-on a range of products including the Levi’s® Jacquard™ jacket and discuss lifetime expectations and consequent design or business strategies, that could improve product sustainability.