Exploring Synergies Between Circular Economy and Asset Management

Abstract

Circular economy (CE) has been recently considered one of the most promising sustainable strategies for industrial companies, aiming at reducing resources consumption, extending resources life cycle and making recirculate resources within the life cycle stages. The transition from a linear economy towards a circular one requires the internal reorganization of companies without limiting the focus on product life cycle management, also considering how to appropriately manage internal assets, both physical, e.g. machines, and social, e.g. workforce. Indeed, the objective of the present work is to investigate the adoption of CE in industrial asset management (AM), thus focusing on the physical assets. A systematic literature review has been performed with a two-fold goal: firstly, to envisage the synergies between CE and AM and, secondly, to identify existing research gaps. Through this review, it was possible to notice the shared life cycle orientation of the two theories but the still embryonic adoption of it in the AM for a circular aim. Indeed, the major focus in the AM theory, from a CE perspective, is on the role of maintenance activities to extend asset life cycle during its Middle of Life stage while CE adoption at the Beginning of Life of industrial assets is still lagging. This limits a life cycle orientation which would boost industrial companies’ sustainability. In order to encounter policymakers’ expectations these two theories should be furtherly integrated.