As concerns regarding businesses’ environmental impact increase, some decision-makers are starting to change how their supply chains operate. We are beginning to see more and more companies move away from the traditional supply chain model for various reasons.
Firstly, the traditional linear supply chains are very wasteful, which leads to unnecessary costs for the business. Furthermore, consumers are demanding more sustainable products, hence a product derived from a supply chain that is more sustainable.
Lastly, a linear supply chain has particular challenges, such as a lack of communication between all the parties and a lack of agility. Thus, Nexity Network is rethinking the process of returning goods to the manufacturing origin and making the best use of available resources.
We are building circular supply chains by looking at sustainable models as frameworks and as a way of conducting business. The linear value chain has remained untouched for many years and represents one of the biggest problems we face today triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic situation and economic reset.
The Value of Circularity
Adopting a circular model helps reduce the environmental impact and your long-term costs, unlike the linear supply chain model.
The circular supply chain helps decrease costs as you reuse the raw materials you paid for, allowing you to get the maximum profit from these. Rather than throwing a product away when consumers no longer want it or when its life cycle has come to an end, this product can be transformed into a new product with a lower production cost than a brand new one.
Furthermore, a circular supply chain can help businesses combat the price volatility of certain raw materials. Price volatility in linear supply chains often leads to problems in budget planning and keeping long-term costs low. However, it is easier to plan in terms of budget and expenses with a circular supply chain as you can anticipate the quantity of reused and recycled materials needed when producing new products.
Ensuring the right processes and technology can seem like an overwhelming upfront investment. In the long run, it has proven to be economical and beneficial not only for the environment but also for the business.
From Specific to Holistic Problem Solving
To successfully implement a circularity framework in any organization, several different areas need to change – in a coordinated fashion.
Most enterprises can be considered complex systems with many subsystems. Stamina and consistency over time and a clear vision are required at the management level. Many of these changes will have to be initiated from within. The people doing the job out in the field or the back office must be involved in the process.
The shift from specific problem solving to holistic, integrated models that involves multiple stakeholders increases the number of dependencies. It can be critical for success to address the different challenges in the right order. Upgrading the technical and digital equipment is the first step in a long-term plan for a more automated operation with higher capacity and flexibility.
Redefining Resources and Waste
Nexity Network is working hard to create a large set of instruments to trigger the development of a wasteless future.
The tools:
• Introduce or enhance recycling schemes;
• Extended producer responsibility through Governance;
• Research and development on circular product design;
• Integration of waste prevention in environmental permitting of SMEs;
• Blockchain Product Passports;
• Digital twins of the products;
• Circular product design tools;
Circular Strategies within the Production Chain
Useful application of materials
- Use discarded products or parts in a new product with a different function.
- Process materials to obtain the same (high grade) or lower
- (low grade) quality.
- Incineration of materials with energy recovery.
Extend the lifespan of the product and its parts
- Use parts of discarded products in a new product with the same function.
- Restore an old product and bring it up to date.
- Repair and maintain defective products to be used with their original function.
- Reuse by another consumer of a discarded product still in good condition and fulfills its original function.
Smarter product use and manufacture
- Increase efficiency in product manufacture or use by consuming fewer natural resources and materials.
- Make product use more intensive (e.g., sharing products or putting multifunctional products on the market).
- Make a product redundant by abandoning its function or offering the same process with a radically different outcome.
What is Nexity Network?
Nexity Network is building a blockchain-enabled, circular, more transparent, and productive world to rethink how everything is designed, created, used, and recycled, from the food we eat to the clothes we wear and how we do business.
Nexity is creating the next economy to serve as a bridge for the companies and customers to enable transparently, responsible, and secure product/service flows. Our ecosystem is positioned to solve supply chain complexities, focusing on day-to-day operational activity from environmental damages, visibility gaps to trust between parties, and fragmented data exchange.
Press Contact
Nexity Public Relations
pr@nexitynetwork.org
