Background: In industrial practice a transition from a linear (take-make-dispose) to a circular product system (considering reuse/remanufacturing/recycling) requires the change of business models through new value propositions. In doing so the focus of the value proposition shifts from selling a physical product to providing access to functionality through business innovation. One key factor related to circular business transitions is market acceptance. It is particularly challenging to understand what complexity a new concept like circular economy (CE) brings to established businesses where the success and the failure of the business is dependent on customer's acceptance of new value propositions. Purpose: This paper empirically explores the opportunities of a circular business approach for washing machines in the city of Stockholm by quantifying and assessing customer preferences for CE value propositions for a business to customer (B2C) scenario. Method: This study uses the method of choice-based conjoint analysis to investigate preferences based on the attributes price and payment scheme, environmental friendliness as well as service level. Originality: This paper is the first of its kind to assess customer preferences from the CE market acceptance point of view using a conjoint approach and provides insight to what extent new CE value propositions may be adopted. Findings: Results indicate that there is general interest in paying for access rather than for ownership. Service levels have the strongest impact on customer utility of a washing machine offer. If associated with reduction in CO2 emissions the number of remanufacturing cycles can increase purchase probability. As a method choice-based conjoint analysis is highlighted as beneficial to break down CE value propositions and to identify to what extent particular service-related attributes and product-related attributes contribute to overall customer utility. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

During the metal cutting operation, heat generation at the cutting interface and the resulting heat distribution among tool, chip, workpiece, and cutting environment has a significant impact on the overall cutting process. Tool life, rate of tool wear, and dimensional accuracy of the machined surface are linked with the heat transfer. In order to develop a precise numerical model for machining, convective heat transfer coefficient is required to simulate the effect of a coolant. Previous literature provides a large operating range of values for the convective heat transfer coefficients, with no clear indication about the selection criterion. In this study, a coupling procedure based on finite element (FE) analysis and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been suggested to obtain the optimum value of the convective heat transfer coefficient. In this novel methodology, first the cutting temperature was attained from the FE-based simulation using a logical arbitrary value of convective heat transfer coefficient. The FE-based temperature result was taken as a heat source point on the solid domain of the cutting insert and computational fluid dynamics modeling was executed to examine the convective heat transfer coefficient under similar condition of air interaction. The methodology provided encouraging results by reducing error from 22 to 15% between the values of experimental and simulated cutting temperatures. The methodology revealed encouraging potential to investigate convective heat transfer coefficients under different cutting environments. The incorporation of CFD modeling technique in the area of metal cutting will also benefit other peers working in the similar areas of interest.

The transition towards a circular economy has become important. Manufacturing industry being a major stakeholder in this transition has started exploring the potential of this transition and challenges in implementation. Ambitious companies such as Gorenje d.d. has taken the circular economy transition seriously and aims to become a pioneer in implementing circular manufacturing systems. One vital step in this transition is the business model shift from the linear (sales model) to a circular model such as 'product as a service'. This brings new challenges to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that have never been experienced in their conventional businesses. One of the challenges is to establish an information communication and technology (ICT) infrastructure that enables information management and sharing as well as establishes a real-time communication between relevant stakeholders. Outlining such an ICT infrastructure is the objective of this paper.

Machining vibrations and dynamic instability of machine tools is an important consideration in machining systems. Common approaches for improving their dynamic performance target either the process, or intelligent, yet complex control systems with actuators. Given that machine tools' dynamic characteristics are largely defined by the characteristics of the joints, this article proposes a novel concept, attempting to create a new paradigm for improving the dynamic behaviour of machine tools-introducing modular machine tools components (Joint Interface Modules-JIMs) with joints deliberately designed for increasing dynamic stiffness and enhancing damping with the use of viscoelastic materials. Through a systematic model-based design process, a prototype replicating a reference tool holder was constructed exploiting viscoelastic materials and the dynamic response of the machining system was improved as a result of its introduction; in machining experiments, the stability limit was increased from around 2 mm depth of cut to 4 mm depth of cut, without compromising the rigidity of the system or changing the process parameters. The article also includes the results of investigations regarding the introduction of such prototypes in a machine tool and discusses the shortcomings of the stability lobe diagrams as a method for evaluating the performance of machine tool components with viscoelastically treated joints.

Titanium alloys generally show low machinability ratings. They are referred as difficult-to-cut materials due to their inherent properties such as low thermal conductivity, high chemical reactivity and high strength at elevated temperatures. Cooling strategies play an important role to improve the machining performance of the cutting process. In order to facilitate the heat dissipation from the cutting zone, generous amount of coolant is used when machining highly reactive metals such as titanium alloys. Generally, cutting coolants are nominated as pollutants due to their non-biodegradable nature. This article presents experimental evaluation of a minimal quantity cooling lubrication system. The study investigates a combination of sub-zero-temperature air and vegetable oil-based mist as possible environmentally benign alternative to conventional cooling methods. The results are compared with the dry and flood cutting environments as well. Machinability was evaluated experimentally by considering the surface finish, cutting forces, tool life and their associated tool wear mechanisms. It was concluded from the results obtained from the surface roughness, cutting force and tool life investigation that minimal quantity cooling lubrication (internal) cooling strategy has encouraging potential to replace the conventional flood cooling method.

During the machining operation, elevated temperatures are achieved at the cutting interface due to the presence of high plastic deformation and friction in between the tool and chip contacting area. Efficient heat dissipation from the cutting interface is required to achieve better machining performance. Elevated temperature in the cutting area results in lower tool life as it facilitates different types of wear mechanisms. Metal working fluids (MWFs) are employed to reduce heat and friction in the cutting zone, simultaneously to help in the flushing of waste particles. The MWFs are based on either water or petroleum oil and include several additives which make them non-biodegradable and toxic in nature. The minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) method offers a feasible substitute to the MWF-based conventional flood cooling method. In this study, a vegetable oil-based MQL system was mixed with sub-zero temperature air to design a new minimum quantity cooling lubrication (MQCL) system. The study investigates the machinability of Ti6Al4V using an MQCL system under various oil flow rates and compared its machining performance with both dry cutting and conventional flood cooling. For further evaluation, the study investigated surface roughness, flank wear, and associated wear mechanisms. It was found that in the MQCL system (60–70 ml/h), oil supply rates provided reliable machining performance at higher feed levels.

A hybrid joint interface module (HJIM) was developed using viscoelastic materials’ (VEM) “incompressible” property. The HJIM composes VEM layers compressed by screws. Its static stiffness and damping had been characterized by inverse receptance method. The analysis result showed that its static stiffness increases by nearly 50 % with increasing compression preload without compromising its loss factor. A comparison study of HJIM with a viscoelastic material joint interface module (VJIM) revealed that the change of the screws mechanical contact conditions affected the HJIM’s stiffness. Compression preload by fastening the screws, however, did not significantly affect the damping property of the HJIM. On the contrary to shear pre-strain, compression preload did not affect the VEM’s properties shown by studying the VJIM case. A workpiece was studied while fixed on the HJIM. Varying compression preload affected the stiffness of HJIM and that resulted in increased shear strain in VEM for certain modes while decreased shear strain in VEM for other modes. The affected shear strain in VEM altered the vibrational strain energy distribution and changed the receptance amplitude of different modes. In addition to apply the VEM where it is significantly strained, the analysis revealed that constraining the shear strain in VEM resulted in reduced receptance amplitude for different modes. The changes of receptance will further affect the vibration conditions in machining.

Purpose: The transition from linear to circular product systems is a big step for any organization. This may require an organization to change the way it does business, designs product and manages supply chain. As these three areas are interdependent, bringing change in one area will influence the others, for instance, changing the business model from conventional sales to leasing will demand changes in both product design and the supply chain. At the same time, it is essential for an organization to anticipate the economic and environmental impact of all changes before it may decide to implement the circular product systems. However, there is no tool available today that can assess economic and environmental performance of circular product systems. The purpose of this research is to develop a multi-method simulation based tool that can help to evaluate economic and environmental performance of circular product systems. Method: The conceptual models that are used to develop the tool have been formulated based on review of the state-of-the-art research. System Dynamics (SD) and Agent Based (AB) principles have been used to create the simulation model which has been implemented in Anylogic software platform. Originality: This research presents the first multi-method simulation based tool that can evaluate economic and environmental performance of circular product systems. Findings: Multi-method simulation technique is useful in designing dynamic simulation model that takes into consideration mutual interactions among critical factors of business model, product design and supply chain. It also allows predicting system's behaviour and its influence on the economic and environmental performance of circular product systems.

The concept of circular economy (CE) is to an increasing extent treated as a solution to series of challenges such as waste generation, resource scarcity and sustaining economic benefits. However the concept of circularity is not of novel as such. Specific circumstances and motivations have stimulated ideas relevant to circularity in the past through activities such as reuse, remanufacturing or recycling. Main objectives of this work are: to provide a comprehensive review of research efforts encompassing aspects of resources scarcity, waste generation and economic advantages; to explore the CE landscape in the context of these three aspects especially when they are considered simultaneously; based on an idea of a comprehensive CE framework, propose an implementation strategy using top-down and bottom-up approach in a concurrent manner. To fulfill this objective a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art research is carried out to understand different ideas relevant to CE, motivation for the research and context of their recurrence. Main contributions of this paper are a comprehensive CE framework and a practical implementation strategy for a regenerative economy and natural environment. The framework emphasizes on a combined view of three main aspects i.e. environment, resources and economic benefits. It also underlines that joint support of all stakeholders is necessary in order to successfully implement the CE concept at large scale. The proposed framework and implementation strategy also identify new avenues for future research and practice in the field of CE.