Key Competencies for Circular Manufacturing

Abstract

The transition towards circular economy represents a major challenge faced by manufacturing companies and society alike. However, the ‘human side’ of the circular economy and the role of people-driven factors in the transition have received little attention so far. The present study aims at contributing to fill this gap by outlining key competencies for circular manufacturing identified through a review of the literature and then validated by means of semi-structured interviews with academic and manufacturing experts. In doing so, the study enriches our current knowledge on key competencies for circular manufacturing, which are also useful for practitioners willing to identify the skills required to update or create new job profiles, to assess the competency level of employees and then activate training, counselling and improvement programs to fill relevant gaps.