NaKAMa

Initial Situation

70 to 80 % of a product's life cycle costs and environmental footprint are already determined during the development phase. Nevertheless, development today usually focuses on functionality and low costs – criteria such as upgradeability and reusability receive little attention, particularly in SMEs.

At the same time, resource scarcity and regulatory requirements such as the EU Green Deal are raising the demands on sustainability. Thanks to its high potential for modularization and its use across virtually all industries, fluid power offers ideal conditions for establishing the value-enhancing circular economy (Upgrade Circular Economy).

Solution Approach

Together with the project advisory committee, the technical as well as customer- and operator-related requirements for circular-economy-compliant design are identified first. Building on this, a target state for the reuse- and upgrade-oriented design of fluid power components and systems is developed.

A gap analysis between the current and target state results in a prototype guideline, which is validated and refined in concrete case studies – for example on valves or pumps.

Expected Result

The central outcome is a validated practical guideline for value-enhancing, circular-economy-compliant design in fluid power. It will be made available to interested companies free of charge and in an easily accessible form, and will also feed into university teaching and standardization work.

Benefits for the Target Group

SMEs and large companies in the fluid power industry receive directly applicable methodological support without having to develop their own guidelines. They increase their resource efficiency, reduce life cycle costs, and extend the service life of their products through targeted upgrades – thereby strengthening their competitiveness in the face of growing sustainability requirements.