Reducing remanufacturing uncertainties with the digital product passport

Abstract

In contrast to the linear production model, the circular economy aims to close the loop of materials. One part of this approach is remanufacturing, which extends the lifetime of products. Various stakeholders in the supply chain are involved in remanufacturing. This makes the management and optimization of remanufacturing activities complex. The data required for optimization is often missing, which leads to uncertainties. A new European Commission initiative, the digital product passport (DPP), is believed to facilitate information exchange in the supply chain and cloud be a good solution to reduce uncertainties. The primary purpose of this paper is the quantification and evaluation of the advantages of the DPP. Based on real industrial data, a discrete event simulation model of a remanufacturing system with three production lines was developed. The authors suppose the hypothetical existence of a DPP and illustrate the benefits arising from its application.