Smart Circular Economy

SMEs recover valuable spare parts from returned products: using the Digital Product Passport and the Digital Twin, they verify condition, origin, and approval status—components are efficiently reused instead of newly procured. We combine R‑strategies (reuse, refurbish) with DPP/Digital Twin technologies to make reuse along the supply chain data‑driven, transparent, and scalable.

Digital twins orchestrate repair and remanufacturing processes: component condition, bills of materials, work plans, and test results converge in an SME‑ready data space—throughput and quality increase, scrap rates decrease. We model digital R‑processes and link them to federated data ecosystems (e.g., Catena‑X / Manufacturing‑X) to enable sovereign, cross‑company data exchange.

With digital product passports, material data, disassembly instructions, and alloy information become available for each component—SMEs return parts sorted by material and achieve higher revenues from recycling. We identify value potentials and requirements, harmonize data models, and develop interfaces for secure data sharing.

IoT sensors and AI detect wear at an early stage; maintenance is carried out based on actual need rather than fixed intervals. This reduces downtime, spare‑parts consumption, and CO₂ costs—especially in manufacturing environments. We combine condition‑monitoring data with digital twins in data spaces to implement usage‑based reduction strategies in a robust and interoperable manner.

DPP‑secured specifications enable SMEs to additively manufacture rare spare parts with assured quality—supported by digital approval, traceability, and installation guides: We prototype CE services that integrate DPP data, bills of materials, and process parameters for a compliant, fully digital aftermarket.

SMEs offer machines and equipment for use rather than ownership: operating period, residual value, service, and take-back are managed via digital twins and data ecosystems—enabling predictable revenues and higher utilization. We develop circular, data‑driven business models including ecosystem governance and connect material, financial, and data flows.