Circular economy assessment for an industrial manufacturer

Case study

Context

An industrial equipment manufacturer had made the circular economy one of the pillars of its 2030 sustainability commitments. Its divisions were already running many initiatives: repair services, rental, parts remanufacturing, recycling.

These initiatives were scattered across divisions and regions, and the company had no circular economy assessment. It knew neither its actual level of circularity, nor how it compared with its competitors, nor the risks its linear model exposed it to.

Without a baseline, it could neither set circularity targets and indicators, nor decide which actions and investments to commit to.

Our approach

We conducted 35 interviews across three continents with product, engineering, services, procurement and supply chain teams, and analyzed more than 200 documents. Each division was rated from A to F on six pillars, from material selection to recycling. The ratings were consolidated into a dashboard that became the group’s first circular economy assessment.

We then benchmarked these practices against leading competitors and best-in-class companies from other sectors, and mapped each circular lever to the group’s strategic objectives. The analysis showed that the organization itself was holding back circularity: designing a product for remanufacturing benefited one division but cost another, and sales teams had no incentive to sell used equipment.

Results

• 13 risks of maintaining the linear model identified and ranked, including raw material price volatility and supply fragility.
• 17 recommended actions, ranked by benefit and ease of implementation.
• Capability gaps identified in design, organization and operations: reverse logistics, circular procurement, service sales.
• The client implemented the proposed roadmap and built several circular offers.