Samenvatting

An effective option for companies to implement circular economy concepts is reuse and
remanufacturing. It concerns the (re)use of modules and parts of used and discarded equipment in ‘as
new’ or ‘first class’ reused equipment. It is not just an effective way to reuse materials; it is also
economically very sound.
A method is developed, called WARM1, to assist a producer, in particular SME’s2 whether and how
reuse might be a promising business opportunity. It covers the essential steps in the technical,
organisational and market issues that have to be addressed. It is a tool to decide best options for
making the production chain a closed loop on equipment and parts level. Crucial aspects are product
design and redesign, assembling and disassembling, marketing and sales method, services and
maintenance, reverse logistics and necessary actions regarding cleaning, inspection, repair,
refurbishment and upgrading. The approach can be used for existing products with or without redesign
and also for products which are still under development. It is phasewise to save unnecessary time and
costs: first a quick-scan to determine a go or no-go, second the selection op best options, third a new
‘circular business model’ and set-up of cooperation with key partners for closing the loop. A fourth
actually more parallel phase is improvement of the design and changes in operations to optimize the
reuse process.
In the course of the program observations are made on possible and profitable business models but
also about the factors that hinder companies to introduce reuse on this level. The approach is being
adapted to handle that. At the same time it offer insight in the practical aspects of stimulating and
implementing circular economy approaches in companies in general.