Defining Circulation Factories – A Pathway towards Factories of the Future

Abstract

Manufacturing companies are increasingly perceived not only on the basis of their products but also of their factories and their embedding within the environment. For this reason, both existing and future factories face the challenges posed by a dynamic and changing market environment. Thus, a gradual change from a throughput to a circular economy leads to the emergence of two categories of factory systems. One category is producing goods, while the second one is recovering and treating waste, residues and the rest of the product at the end of its life. Against this background, this paper introduces the concept of Circulation Factories which combines manufacturing with remanufacturing and recycling into one integrated system. Circulation Factories will enable the realization of an industrial symbiosis transferring waste to value. Drivers and challenges are discussed.