Concept of a Data-Driven Business Model for Circular Production Equipment

Abstract

New legislation and the social movement around circular economy issues are currently forcing manufacturing companies to reassess the sustainability of their production and value chain. The circular economy is becoming an important economic concept, challenging manufacturing companies to develop approaches for realising resource-efficient production and usage of products. One potential area for sustainable production lies in the production equipment used for example in automotive production, such as robots, grippers and fixtures. However, new business models are needed to realise sustainable and recyclable production equipment, as existing ones do not take this into account. This paper presents an approach that deals with business model innovation and a digital platform ecosystem for circular production equipment. First, established business models are analysed for their transferability to automotive production. In particular, the use of subscriptions for production equipment is focused on and evaluated. The assessment is based on interviews with experts from equipment manufacturers and is quantified by them. The result is a presentation of the potential of the developed business model and a corresponding "as-a-service" concept for implementation using a digital platform.