DPO02 - The role of digital twin and thread to facilitate whole lifecycle information flow in a circular economy

Supervisors: Dr Khadija Tahera (Department of People and Organisations, The Open University Business School, Faculty of Business and Law) and Dr Helen Lockett (Department of Design and Technology, The Open University Engineering and Innovation School, Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

Context

In design and innovation, the circular economy is almost an afterthought (Kara et al., 2022). Where sustainability is concerned, most of the emphasis is on recycling and remanufacturing, and very little is known about how innovation and new product development processes can adopt circular thinking (Iacovidou et al., 2021) and build on circular economy models. Working towards a greener future, organisations that develop products or services must understand the circular value of the materials and data they produce (Ranta et al., 2018), intentionally and as a by-product of their processes. They also need support and tools to help identify opportunities to capitalise on this value (Potting et al., 2017), which could benefit stakeholders at all stages of the development process, from early design to end of life, as well as subsequent product lifecycles.

The Challenge

A key challenge in realising a circular economy is effective communication. It is generally understood that stakeholders at different stages of a product development process and lifecycle should engage with other stakeholders at other stages to improve efficiency and quality and reduce cost. For example, stakeholders engaged in later product lifecycle (reuse, remanufacturing, recycle) should inform product design and development about how a product is used, how it fails, as well as challenges raised by recycling and remanufacturing at end-of-life. Product designers should incorporate these lessons-learned into their products as part of a circular design process to maximise the utility of a product’s materials in a circular economy. However, in reality there are many barriers to implementing this circular information model, which in turn limits the potential benefits of adopting a circular economy model (Pieroni et al., 2019). In particular, different stakeholders often operate independently, and there is often no obvious way for information to be communicated up-and-down the stages of the development process in a way that is both practical and commercially viable (Preut et al., 2021). Without this communication, a viable design for the circular economy process is impossible.

Digital twins, along with other digital technologies (digital threads, digital analysis, digital testing, etc.), are attracting attention in academia and industry as a potential solution for addressing sustainability challenges (Tahera et al., 2023; Mügge et al., 2024). Previous research (Mügge et al., 2024) has shown that digital twins and digital threads offer a promising approach to support the circular economy model, but more work is required to investigate how they can be practically implemented. This project will explore the use of digital twins and threads as a solution to the communication challenge.

Aims and Objectives

The project will aim to develop an information flow model or framework to support information exchange in the circular economy value chain and explore how this framework can be applied in practice.

With the following objectives:

Conduct a structured literature review to establish the current state of the art on how digital twins and threads can support the circular economy model.
Conduct empirical investigations through case studies to explore how digital twins and threads can help the circular economy model to work, particularly in sustainable design and manufacturing.
Develop a framework that integrates digital twins and threads to facilitate lifecycle information flow in a circular economy.
Test this framework in a focused case study to address the challenges that arise when this is put into practice.

This will benefit design and innovation practitioners as they adapt to the green future.

Methodology

A potential methodology could involve using case studies to identify and analyse critical challenges in circular thinking, focusing on factors that influence or hinder circular information flow and understanding of digital twins and threads in industrial settings. This may be preceded by a mixed-method approach, beginning with experimental modelling and simulation to assess how various factors are related and behave. These simulations will help establish a framework, which will then be validated through case studies. More about case study research methodology can be found in, for example, (Yin, 2009) and (Bell et al., 2018).

The student will be based in the Department of People and Organisations at the Business School, but will also work in an interdisciplinary team with the Design and Technology department based in the STEM faculty, The Open University.

References

Bell, E., Bryman, A. and Harley, B. (2018) Business research methods, Oxford University Press.

Iacovidou, E., Hahladakis, J. N. and Purnell, P. (2021). A systems thinking approach to understanding the challenges of achieving the circular economy. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28, 24785-24806.

Kara, S., Hauschild, M., Sutherland, J. and McAloone, T. (2022). Closed-loop systems to circular economy: A pathway to environmental sustainability? CIRP Annals, 71, 505-528.

Mügge, J., Seegrün, A., Hoyer, T.-K., Riedelsheimer, T. and Lindow, K. (2024). Digital Twins within the Circular Economy: Literature Review and Concept Presentation. Sustainability, 16, 2748.

Pieroni, M. P., McAloone, T. C. and Pigosso, D. C. (2019). Business model innovation for circular economy and sustainability: A review of approaches. Journal of Cleaner Production, 215, 198-216.

Potting, J., Hekkert, M. P., Worrell, E. and Hanemaaijer, A. (2017). Circular economy: measuring innovation in the product chain. Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving.

Preut, A., Kopka, J.-P. and Clausen, U. (2021). Digital twins for the circular economy. Sustainability, 13, 10467.

Ranta, V., Aarikka-Stenroos, L. and Mäkinen, S. J. (2018). Creating value in the circular economy: A structured multiple-case analysis of business models. Journal of Cleaner Production, 201, 988-1000.