
Best practicies for Europe
Erik SundinAs part of the EU Horizon 2020 scheme he will now develop “best practices” for Europe, working with the British consultants Oakdene Hollins and colleagues at universities in Germany, Holland, Great Britain, France and Finland. They will gather together all the best conceivable solutions from construction, business modelling and remanufacturing technology.“The aim is to get more companies and branches to invest in remanufacturing and also to increase competitiveness across the sector. Our work will then provide the basis for new applications to Horizon 2020,” says Professor Sundin.
In this field, Europe is lagging behind America and China, who have gone considerably further with their efforts in remanufacturing and reduced resource wastage.
Vinnova-financed
Professor Sundin and his colleague, Mattias Lindahl from the Division for Environmental Technology and Management, are also heading up two Vinnova-financed projects around remanufacturing. The project has funding of around SEK 10 million over three years. Researchers at Chalmers are also taking part, as are a number of companies who work with remanufacturing: TetraPak (remanufacturing of filling machines), Toyota Material Handling (remanufacturing of trucks) UBD Cleantech (car parts), Inrego (computers), LTB Jobb (furniture) and Qlean Scandinavia, which offers efficient and environmentally friendly cleaning technology for remanufacturing.Both research projects concern how, with the aid of better information management, we can construct and manufacture products such that they are easier to remanufacture and how remanufacturing itself can become more efficient and ecological.
Remanufacturing and ecodesign are also present in courses at LiU; two popular examples are the courses in Sustainable Manufacturing (TMPS31) and Resource Efficient Products (TKMJ29).
2014-11-06