ENGT5220 Assignment B: Circular Economy and Sustainability Analysis

This report, prepared as an assignment for the Faculty of Technology, explores the implementation of a circular economy model within the manufacturing of electric mobility scooters for disabled individuals. It begins by identifying the various components used in production, including structural, electronic, and miscellaneous parts, and then assesses the feasibility of recycling each component. The report then outlines a future sustainable industrial system, detailing a multi-stage process for integrating sustainability into the production cycle, from understanding sustainability trends to developing industry codes of practice and analyzing results. The report emphasizes collaboration with stakeholders, internal strategy execution, and the development of tools and education programs to achieve a more environmentally friendly and economically viable manufacturing process. The report concludes by highlighting the importance of continuous improvement and reporting on results to contribute to government and public policies aimed at promoting sustainability.

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FACULTY OF TECHNOLOGY
LOW IMPACT MANUFACTURING
ENGT5220
ASSIGNMENT B - THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

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Table of contents
1.0 Introduction:.........................................................................................................................3
2.0 Different types of components used for the production of the company:............................3
3.0 Description of the future sustainable industrial system:......................................................5
4.0 Short run and long run steps for each of the components in order to implement the
sustainable system:.....................................................................................................................7
5.0 Conclusion............................................................................................................................8
Reference..................................................................................................................................10

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1.0 Introduction:
There are many objectives of the organisation operating in the modern market framework.
While one of them is undoubtedly the profit, the other one is the sustainability as each of the
organisation wants to be in the market for a long period of time. Operating for a longer period
of time also brings many of the advantages to the company. Customers are often influenced
by the history and the legacy of the organisation. Therefore sustainability is the next big
objective of the organisations. The aim of the paper is to discuss the process of imputing
sustainability in the products of an organisation. As a sustainability manager of an electric
mobility scooter for disabled, this paper furnishes the process of inclusion of recycling in
order to make the production more sustainable following the theory of circular economy.
2.0 Different types of components used for the production of the company:
There are three different types of components that are used in the production of the electric
mobility scooters. This part of the study goes through the each component and discusses the
process to implement recycling in these components.
2.1 Structural parts
One of the most important structural components of the electric mobility scooter is the
chassis. This part of the product is made of either carbon steel or aluminium in order to make
the scooter lightweight. This aluminium and carbon steel is very strong and hence can be
reused upon proper processes of the recycling sector. Chen et al. (2017) commented that the
chassis is often the most common automobile part that is reused for development of many
other similar products. Apart from that, wheels can also be recycled to a great extent as they
are made of alloy like the combination of the aluminium and the magnesium. These two
metals have a long use life and hence provide incentives to the producers to recollect it from
the users so that they can be used again for the production of the next lot. Tyre is a
component which is used around the wheels of the product and it’s made of rubber, carbon
and other chemical compounds. Tyre recycling is a common process followed by many of the
automobile organisation of the world. Faludi et al. (2015) stated that the reuse of the tyres of
the automobile is important as tyres are not biodegradable and hence becomes problems for
environment and the capacity. One of the best ways to reuse the tyres of the products of the
company is by tyre pyrolysis wherein the old tyres are heated to an extent that they melt
(Song et al. 2017). This matter tyre can then be used again as per the needs of the producers.

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Figure 1: three parts of the mobility scooter for the disabled
(Source: developed by the learner)
2.2 Electronic parts
Electronic parts of the mobility scooters are very important as they make the basic value for
the product. Motor which is the most important part of the overall scooter can be easily
reused if the company can use Electronic Data Log (EDL) in each of the new motors of the
company. Rahimian et al. (2017) stated that this is a circuit that provides the producers an
insight regarding the performance and the status of the motor during and after the use of the
motor. Another electronic part that can be reused to a large extent is the wires which involve
mainly the copper wires. Copper wires are the most effective corrosion resistant wires which
are less susceptive to damage and can be used for a long period of time. However, there are
few of the electronic parts of the products which cannot be reused again (Zhang and Haapala,
2015). These involve the switches and the batteries. During the use of the mobility scooters,
switches are used very roughly and they are mainly made of plastics or fibres. Reusing these
parts of the product can reduce the quality of the mobility scooter. In the case of the circuit
board of the product, the board can be reused again removing all the existing prints and the
wires of the boards. There has been a new technology of ecocycle cube which prints new
printings and plants new filaments on the old boards. Carbonell et al. (2015) highlighted that,
the filaments itself can be replaced by materials which are made from used cola bottles.
Therefore, this way most of the electronic parts of the products can be reused for the sake of
the cost of the company and the general welfare of the environment.
Components
Structural Electrical Miscellaneous

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2.3 Miscellaneous parts
Some of the other parts of the mobility scooter can also be reused again in the future products
of the company. Robayo-Salazar et al. (2017) highlighted that mechanical transmitters, if
maintained properly can be reused in the next products without any problem. However the
extent to which the bodywork and the upholstery of the product can be used for the next
production depends on the market the product is being sold. Generally in developed
economies with low level of pollution allows these to be used again as dust particle generally
remains very low. On the other hand, underdeveloped or developing economies lack the
system to reduce and manage the pollution of the environment and hence damages the
external parts of the products such as the upholstery and the bodywork and hence cannot be
reused. Although, Ghani et al. (2016) stated that melting the bodywork at certain
temperature, the producers can utilise the bodywork in some way, however, it can pollute the
environment and go against the ethical principles of the organisations.
3.0 Description of the future sustainable industrial system:
The modern style of the operation for the private corporations and the organisations compels
them to work in collaboration with the other stakeholders such as suppliers and vendors.
Therefore the key to the future sustainable operation for any kinds of product needs to be
undertaken in collaboration with them. Joseph et al. (2016) stated that there are few of the
stages that the management and the production units needs to keep in mind in order to
implement sustainability strategies given that apart the resource flow of the production has
been made circular. The stages for the future sustainability of the industry are presented
below:
Stage one- understanding of the sustainability trend and the impacts
The first stage for the production of the mobility scooter should be the research by the
production department of the company. In this research the production department with
collaboration with the other department of the company would discuss how the reusability of
the resources for the product development would impact the business and the goals of the
organisation in terms of environmental commitments and ethics. Arora et al. (2016) stated
that, this step usually presents blueprint of the plan and maps the involvement of different
stakeholders of the organisation.
Stage two- Priority articulation
This is the next stage towards the sustainability of the production process for the mobility
scooters where the stakeholders agree on the decision to improve the CSR activity of the
organization and accepts the responsibilities of each of the member. For the mobility scooter,

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the manufacturing assigns responsibility to different stakeholders such as it asks the supplier
of rubber to collect used tires of the customers and melt it for the purpose of the production.
Stage three- development of the mission
In this stage, the management of the company sets an overall vision for the sustainability
strategies that are being taken in case of the production of mobility scooters. Each of the
stakeholders in the production such as the vendor of electrical devices, the supplier of
chemicals, rubbers, copper wires are given short term and long-term goals. Absil et al. (2015)
commented that the effectiveness of the strategies and its effects on the performances of the
company highly depends on the production manager. The manager needs to make sure that
overall organizational goal in terms of sustainability and the reusability needs to be properly
adopted by each of the stakeholders of the production.
Stage four- internal strategy execution
This is the fourth stage of the process where the management uses the internal process and
practices to make sure the performances and the activities of each of the stakeholders and the
members can be properly monitored for the sake of the overall performances of the project.
Stage five- Development of the tools and education programmes for the member
This is the most important stage of the production where the management of the company
uses its learning curve to collect knowledge regarding the reusability of resources in order to
further enhance the suitability in the production process of the company. Alujas et al. (2015)
highlighted that in this case, a research and development unit helps each of the stakeholders
and members of production eventually resulting in reduced cost and lesser environmental
impacts of the sustainability programme.
Stage six- Development of the performance evaluation
The production manager of the mobility scooter in this stage develops the metrics, plan, and
target for each of the members and the stakeholders so that their relative performances can be
measured and can be rewarded in a gesture to appreciate the members. Yazdani et al. (2016)
highlighted that, in this case, the views and the feedback from the customers' needs to be
processed in order to understand pros and the cons of reused components in the mobility
scooters.
Stage seven- Development of the industry code of practices
Development of the code of practices for the reusability of the components in the mobility
scooter is an important to stage if the aim of the management of the company is suitability.
The management in this process makes sure that reusability techniques used by each of the
members of the association adhere to the environmental policies. The tire pyrolysis is a

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process where chemicals of higher concentration are required and hence proper licensing
needs to be done. In this context, Carbone and Brown (2017) commented that use of
concentrated chemicals for the purpose of reusability also pose threats for the workers as well
and hence calls for strengthened safety and security policies of the company if it wants to
make it sustainable.
Stage eight- Analysis of the process
In the third stage of the reusability programme, the management of the manufacturing unit set
visions for each of the members or the stakeholders. In this stage the production manager
analyses the performance indicators for each of the groups in order to find out challenges that
each of the members facing. For example, in the production of the mobility scooter, the
electronic supplier can face obstacles regarding the use of state of the art 3D printer in order
to reuse a circuit board. De Stefano et al. (2016) stated that cost of using 3D printer is very
high and the management can thus, either come up with a new solution or it can devote more
money to this stakeholder in order to get the job done properly.
Stage nine- Report and result of the sectors
The next stage of the reusability sustainable production process is the reporting of the results
and the performances of each sector relative to their goals. Zhu et al. (2015) noted that the
objective of the reporting and analysis of the result is that it allows the management an
insight regarding the effectiveness of the production process and the necessity of further
performance improvement of each of the sectors.
Stage ten- Contribution to the government and public policies
With a sustainable operation and the experience of the producers in terms of reusability of the
resources for production, they can become assisting agents for the public policy makers in
terms of environment and impacts of production on the environment. The leaders of the
association such as the manager of the manufacturing units can provide valuable insights of
the industry to the government so that accurate policy is articulated that further improves the
sustainability of the production and the quality of the environment. However, Pavlínek (2015)
stated that there is a great apprehension regarding this stage as most of the organization in
this stage becomes complacent and engages in lobbying with the policy makers for financial
benefits of the organization ignoring its corporate responsibilities towards the environment
for sustainability.
4.0 Short run and long run steps for each of the components in order to implement the
sustainable system:
Structural parts

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The management in the short run can carry out research studies regarding the characteristics
of raw materials used in the production of structural body parts such as wheels, chassis and
many more. Volkswagen is a global automobile maker that carries out regular researchers of
the resources used in the production in order to decide if they can reuse the resource in the
production of new automobiles again. In the long run, the management needs to establish its
own research and analysis wings for the purpose of innovation and knowledge.
Electronic parts
The technological advancement in the electronic parts sector which is used for the production
of the mobility scooter is characterized by rapid changes. For example, electronic switches
have changed from bipolar transistors to power diode MOSFET in a matter of 3 years.
Therefore it is mandatory for the management of the company to keep itself updated with the
industry and technology standard in order to make the reusability and production more
sustainable. Kong et al. (2016) pointed out that, due to the fact that each of the members or
stakeholder must be delegated respective goals, performance monitoring and evaluation of
each of the member becomes important in the longer term.
Figure 2: tyre pyrolysis process
(Source: Wassmann et al. 2016)

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Miscellaneous parts
In the short term, the management of the manufacturing unit of the company can carry out an
experiment with the use of different types of upholstery, tires and many more in order to see
what works well in favor of the goal. For example, the tire can be burnt in order to turn it into
a molten rubber so that it can be used again. Vinodh et al. (2016) pointed out that, in the short
run this can provide a support to the production to the manager. However, in the long run, the
manager of manufacturing units needs to make sure the reusability modifications processes
like these matches with the policies of the government (Wassmann et al. 2016). Stakeholder
evaluation matrix can also be used in the long run to check whether the members or the
stakeholders are in line with their respective responsibilities and goals.
5.0 Conclusion
Thus, this paper shows the production of the mobility scooter for the disabled can be made
more circular as per the theory of circular economy of production economics. The main
objective of using the circular economic principles in the production is that it will save some
of the pressures on the environment of the world. The paper discusses to what extent each of
the parts of the mobility scooter can be reused again in the production. Apart from that, the
paper also presents the stages important for the future sustainability of organization and the
industry as a whole. Lastly, the paper has concluded with the discussion of how the
management can take short and long-term actions on each of the components of the
productions in order to make the production sustainable.

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