Every Friday, Circulate rounds up a collection of interesting circular economy related stories and articles. This Friday, we’re talking HP and Jabil’s 3D printing partnership, leasing jeans and why the Netherlands is a circular economy hotspot.
3D Printing: easier, smarter, faster
While Makerbots and Ultimakers seem to have dominated the 3D printer market over the past few years, now some of the bigger players are getting in on the action, and bringing new capabilities to the field. Trading ink and toner for powder and filament, HP launched their Jet Fusion 3D technology in May this year.
Now, manufacturing giant Jabil have announced a new partnership with HP, specifically around this 3D printing ecosystem. According to John Dulchinos, Jabil’s Vice President and General Manager of Global Automation and 3D Printing, the joint venture is primarily about saving time and money, with lower marginal costs supporting ‘low to middle-volume manufacturing’. A far cry from the one-off customisation that 3D printers have been known for, Jabil are looking to employ the technology to create parts for their thousands of injection molding machines. HP say that from their own experience, this ‘is simply better in terms of raw economics’, and offers other benefits such as turnaround time and inventory costs. The press release also contains a nice summary of the changes these new manufacturing practices will bring about:
Over the next 10 to 15 years socioeconomic forces, advanced design and production innovation, and highly automated printing processes will intersect to create a massive transformation of design and manufacturing…how and where we design, sell and manufacture products will continue to become both hyper-global and hyper-local thanks to a globally connected world with a diverse set of local requirements. Production will move closer to the consumer, with local 3D-print service bureaus throughout the world, thus accelerating product delivery, reducing carbon footprint, and simplifying logistics and inventory management. How those products move from design to production to those 3D printing hubs will become easier, smarter and faster.
What goes around, comes around
We know 3D printing has a lot of potential to disrupt traditional manufacturing practices, but could this technology also just speed up a linear, throughput economy? Some think that not enough attention has been paid to the long-term impacts of exactly which materials are being used, especially when it comes to the areas of safety, performance and availability. Core77 reports on Reflow, a company that recently surpassed its Kickstarter goal with the aim of producing a set of open source tools to facilitate high-quality materials cycling for 3D printers. Thankfully, this is part of a wave of interest in materials cycling and additive manufacturing, alongside the similar Precious Plastic project from Phonebloks orginator Dave Haakens, and the Ethical Filament Foundation, which works in emerging markets to ‘certify the ethical credentials of the sourcing and production of filament’.
Denim down under
Pay-per-wear pioneers Mud Jeans were featured on Australia’s ABC network this week, with Founder and CEO Bert van Son appearing on the Radio National breakfast show to explain how the jeans leasing concept works, how his business supports the shift towards a circular economy, and why the time is right for new business models that favour access over ownership:
The old way of doing business is making something that is out of fashion in a few months. Generation Y isn’t thinking this way anymore. They want transparency, and they don’t accept any stories anymore. The world my generation has created isn’t the world for tomorrow.
Bert also talks through the MUD Jeans concept, and how the company offer a blend of new, re-used and recycled jeans to appeal to different users and products at different stages of wear. It’s a great case study of how a company can harness the multiple loops of a circular economy, and according to the CEO, MUD Jeans found itself in the black just three years after launch.
Measuring the circular economy
MUD Jeans hail from the Netherlands, a country which many agree is a ‘Circular Hotspot’, having produced a host of companies that are leading the shift to an economy that is regenerative and restorative by design. Social enterprise Circle Economy having been keeping a close eye on these developments, and this week released a new piece of research in collaboration with Accenture, MVO Nederland and DuurzaamBedrijfsleven. From rhetoric to reality: The Circular Economy Index of Dutch businesses seeks to ‘understand the current status of the circular economy within the Netherlands’ largest organisations, as well as to trigger awareness and educate companies on the economic advantages of this new way of thinking’. The report centres around a number of business case studies including Philips Lighting, Circular Rail, HP, Landal GreenParks and Van Gansewinkel, and shares some useful stats on the awareness and uptake of circular economy thinking among Dutch companies. Measuring changes in complex dynamic systems such as our economy is a tricky task, and some thought-leaders such as William McDonough would remind organisations to start at values first before considering measurement. However, there’s an understandable desire for those embracing the circular economy framework to better understand progress, hence the appearance of metrics like the Circular Economy Index and Circularity Indicators from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Cradle to Cradle Design Challenge
Design competitions are a fantastic way to surface design and engineering talent, and we’re starting to see more and more challenges that encourage entrants to apply principles of the circular economy. The Cradle to Cradle product design challenge recently announced the 2016 winners, including a modular, biodegradable pair of trainers, a self sufficient mountain shelter, and food packaging made from banana skins.
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