REAP UP: Resource efficiency and assessment process for used parts

In the automotive industry, the reuse of used components is an established strategy for preserving the value of products and components. Significant differences in user patterns, infrastructure, international legislation, and fluctuations in the supply/demand of used parts place high demands on the process. This project aims to demonstrate the economic, ecological, and social sustainability of part reuse by developing efficient resource management processes, enabled by artificial intelligence (AI)-driven decision support.

Aerial view of a large car parking lot with rows of vehicles in various colors.

Photo by Ed Wingate on Unsplash

About the project

The reuse of used components ("Cores") is done through industrial reprocessing where worn-out parts and certain materials are replaced with new ones. A carefully designed management system is required in order to make sure that the process is economical, ecological, and socially sustainable, even across international borders.

This project aims to develop a system demonstrator with the specific focus of reducing environmental impact from transportation, decreasing the need for new part production, minimizing/optimizing Core inventory, and to further support local handling in the best possible way. This project envisions AI models as core enablers for this type of decision support. The focus likewise lies on increasing adoption of these systems - the technology solution itself has no value if it is not accepted and applied by the involved actors and their processes.

Challenges

Reuse is a societal challenge on several systemic levels:

Behavior and culture: established skepticism about reuse, weak economic incentives for repairability, customers' high expectations for availability, speed, and predictability.
Business models: changed value propositions in several stages of the value chain and for multiple actors.
Regulations and standardization: international laws limit the flow of used components, while new legislation is continuously being added.
Infrastructure, physical and digital: differences in physical infrastructure affect the profitability of reuse, and there are high demands for traceability and data sharing that must take complex legislation into account.
Technology, products, services, and processes: undeveloped and untested technology solutions for tracking products, insufficient management of product data, and inefficient processes.

Expected outcomes

This project will deliver a complete system mapping of automotive component reuse in a Swedish/European context. Here, experiences and processes for reuse and Core management are documented, along with the identification of available data and analysis needs related to decision support.

Additionally, the project will examine reuse in an emerging market. Two contrasting cases, "extreme cases," will be chosen for the system demonstrator, where all systemic challenges are represented and where the project partners have clear challenges, goals, and/or benefit from knowledge building.

Finally, the project will deliver a study of the state-of-the-art in AI to identify relevant tools for optimizing decision-making processes on the basis of efficient resource use, which will be demonstrated in the next project phase.