Better Product Lifetimes

Dear Colleagues,

Product lifetime plays an increasingly crucial role in academic, business, and policy discussions. In academia, product lifetime has become a substantive area of research, with the publication of multiple research papers, books (e.g., Cooper, 2010), reports (e.g., Norman et al., 2016), and the creation of a dedicated consortium (Product Lifetimes and the Environment (PLATE)), scientific journals, conferences, and seminars. In the business community, some organizations have championed themselves as contributors to product lifetime extension, notably, collaborative economy organizations such as Kijiji with the creation of the Kijiji Secondhand Economy Index (https://www.kijiji.ca/kijijicentral/second-hand-economy) which monitors consumers’ exchange-based product lifetime extension practices. Finally, product lifetime is a central concern in the European Commission’s action plan for the circular economy (European Commission, 2015), and the French government plans to launch a “product reparability index” applicable to (semi)durables in 2021 (Collet, 2019).

As topical research has advanced, it has become increasingly clear that the issue of shortening product lifetimes is a systemic one which requires profound changes in business models (Bocken, de Pauw, Bakker, van der Grinten, 2016), a shift toward improved product design philosophies (van Nes and Cramer, 2003; Bakker, Wang, Huisman, and den Hollander, 2014), the identification and promotion of existing product lifetime extension business models (Ertz et al., 2019a), changes in regulation (Montalvo, Peck, and Rietveld, 2016), and changes at the consumer level (Cox, Griffith, Giorgi, and King, 2013).

Private companies and other forms of organizations, regulators, and consumers must work together to improve product lifetimes by extending them for longer use. New technological approaches for extending product lifetimes such as 3D Printing (Despeisse et al., 2017), large-scale data analytics (Jabbour, Jabbour, Sarkis, and Godinho Filho, 2019), and additive manufacturing (Ford and Despeisse, 2016), but also new socioeconomic forms such as the collaborative economy, which have been shown to contribute to extend product lifetime (Ertz et al., 2019b), should also be considered.

This Special Issue will gather original research in the field of product lifetime, and how business model strategies, corporate initiatives, consumer practice, regulation, and new technology can contribute to extend product lifetimes. Suitable topics include but are not limited to the following: consumer product lifetime perception, consumer expected product lifetimes, design strategies, industry 4.0 for product lifetimes, product lifetime extension business models, collaborative economy; product lifetimes measure, refurbishment, reconditioning, reuse, repair, repackaging, remanufacturing, redistribution, mutualization, product–service systems, maintenance, recovery, access-based consumption, product advice, product training, product consultancy, donation, swapping, and secondhand marketplaces.

References

1. Cooper, T (2010). "The significance of product longevity". In Cooper, T. (ed.). Longer Lasting Products: alternatives to the throwaway society. Farnham: Gower.
2. Norman, J.B., Serrenho, A.C., Cooper, S.J.G., Owen, A., Sakai, M., Scott, K., Brockway, P.E., Cooper, S., Giesekam, J., Salvia, G., Cullen, J.M., Barrett, J.R., Cooper, T., Hammond, G.P. and Allwood, J.M. (2016). A whole system analysis of how industrial energy and material demand reduction can contribute to a low carbon future for the UK(PDF). CIE-MAP.
3. European Commission (2015). Closing the loop - An EU action plan for the Circular Economy. Brussels.
4.  Collet, S. (2019). Loi économie circulaire: l'indice de réparabilité prend forme, Actu-Environnement, 6 September 6, 2019. Available at : https://www.actu-environnement.com/ae/news/projet-loi-economie-circulaire-reparabilite-33999.php4 (accessed on 26-12-2019).
5. Bocken, Nancy M. P.; Pauw, Ingrid de; Bakker, Conny; Grinten, Bram van der (2016). "Product design and business model strategies for a circular economy". Journal of Industrial and Production Engineering. 33 (5): 308-320.
6. Van Nes, Nicole; Cramer, Jacqueline. "Design strategies for the lifetime optimisation of products". The Journal of Sustainable Product Design. 3 (3-4): 101-107.
7. Bakker, Conny; Wang, Feng; Huisman, Jacob; den Hollander, Marcel. "Products that go round: exploring product life extension through design". Journal of Cleaner Production. 69: 10-16.
8. Ertz, Myriam; Leblanc-Proulx, Sébastien; Sarigollu, Emine; Morin, Vincent (2019a). "Made to break? A taxonomy of business models on product lifetime extension". Journal of Cleaner Production. 234: 867-880.
9. Montalvo, C., Peck, D. and Rietveld, E. (2016). A longer lifetime for products: benefits for consumers and companies (PDF). Brussels: European Parliament's Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO).
10. Cox, Jayne; Griffith, Sarah; Giorgi, Sara; King, Geoff. "Consumer understanding of product lifetimes". Resources, Conservation & Recycling. 79: 21-29.
11. Despeisse, M., Baumers, M., Brown, P., Charnley, F., Ford, S. J., Garmulewicz, A., & Rowley, J. (2017). Unlocking value for a circular economy through 3D printing: A research agenda. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 115 : 75-84.
12. Jabbour, C. J. C., de Sousa Jabbour, A. B. L., Sarkis, J., & Godinho Filho, M. (2019). Unlocking the circular economy through new business models based on large-scale data: an integrative framework and research agenda. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 144 : 546-552.
13. Ford, S., & Despeisse, M. (2016). Additive manufacturing and sustainability: an exploratory study of the advantages and challenges. Journal of Cleaner Production, 137 : 1573-1587.
14. Ertz, Myriam; Leblanc-Proulx, Sébastien; Sarigollu, Emine; Morin, Vincent (2019b). "Advancing quantitative rigor in the circular economy literature : New methodology for product lifetime extension business models". Resources, Conservation & Recycling. 150: 104437.

Dr. Myriam Ertz
Guest Editor

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