Vision of the Collaborative Research Center

The vision of the Collaborative Research Centre is the integration of linear and circular production processes with the help of a changeable and autonomous production system in order to realize the maximum preservation of added value through the vision of the eternal product as well as the integrated design of product (generations) and production systems in the sense of product-production co-design.

The products created in the circular factory should be qualified for the primary market by having an equivalent performance compared to purely linear products and by being able to integrate innovative functions through technological updates. As few new, purely linearly produced subsystems and components as possible should have to be added or manufactured in the closed-loop factory in order to competitively meet current market requirements. The transfer of a used product into newer product generations is based on the integrated design of product (generations) and production systems (product-production co-design). This involves the development and integration of a methodical approach for product development, a design for circular factory for products that are tailored to circular processes. In order to make the vision of the eternal product possible in terms of production technology, it is necessary to combine circular production processes with existing linear production processes in an integrated production system (see figure).

Figure: Integrated production system for linear and circular production, green: focused process steps of circular production, white: focused process steps of linear production, based on [UN-15].

This integrated production system is capable of both the linear production of new products without reconditioning and the circular process chain, using the same production resources to enable a highly efficient production system. This makes it possible to achieve high-performance, highly efficient high-volume production, as known from linear production. For the first time, new products with an individual refurbishment component can be manufactured on an industrial scale and thus with low unit costs (economies of scale) and sold economically on the market. Circular production processes can thus be established at the high-wage location in large-scale production and the added value can be maintained.

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