It's growing dark outside, on a late afternoon at Campus Valla in Linköping. The students are making their way home.
But not Julia Magnusson Björk and Emmy Helltegen.
They are studying Design and Product Development, with a Master’s specialisation in technical design. And now they are in the workshop in A Building, busy taking apart a combined lamp and bluetooth speaker from Ikea. Emmy Helltegen reads from the research documentation:
“A joining piece that cannot be removed and put back. Soldering that breaks after lifting the LED ramp a few times, glueing that makes it difficult for the user to replace the part...”
And so it continues, the documentation of a single product becomes a long and extensive list. They are working on two different models of lamp speakers from Ikea. They have almost finished with one of them. Its parts are spread out on a large tray on the workbench. And each piece is numbered.
“We have been careful to document everything during the work process. We’ve used completely ordinary tools such as pliers and a screwdriver. It’s meant to be quite easy for a user to change parts,” says Julia Magnusson Björk.
How has Ikea assisted your work?
“We can ask Ikea about most things. They’re very interested in these issues themselves. They know the components of these products. But they’re not as sure about how they are assembled. It feels like we can add something there,” says Emmy Helltegen.
Vinnova-funded research
The background to the project is Vinnova-funded research on the evaluation of circular product standards and the development of future ISO standardisation. Circular means that the components of the product can be reused or, if not, modified and reused, and finally recycled.Erik Sundin, professor in ecodesign, leads the project in which the master’s students contribute with their work. He has long worked on product standards.
“The demands on both manufacturers and consumers are increasing. Circular product standards and legislation are coming to Europe. This puts pressure on manufacturers to put together products in a way that makes the components easy to reuse or remanufacture,” says Erik Sundin.
Maintaining value
Remanufacturing is a term for when the manufacturer has a system to take back the item, replace parts, possibly give it a new surface layer and then get it back on the market. The idea of a circular economy is to maintain the value of the components over time, with recycling as a final step.“It’s a circular method that will become more common in the future as the regulatory framework becomes clearer. The truck manufacturer Toyota Material Handling is an example where they have some remanufacturing activity.”
Final report
Back at the LiU workshop, the students continue to disassemble the Ikea products piece by piece. Their work will conclude with a report to Ikea.“It feels great to work with such a large company as Ikea, because they can actually make a difference in the market with their products,” says Emmy Helltegen.
