Suchergebnisse

Intro -- Contents -- 1 Role of Circular Resources and the Importance of Developing Circular Models in Product Design, Manufacturing and Supply Chains -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 The Need for Circular Resources in Industries -- 1.3 The 2021 International Conference on Resource Sustainability in Dublin -- 1.4 Role of Circular Economy in Resource Sustainability -- References -- 2 Circular Data Framework Throughout the Whole Value Chain from Mining to Manufacturing, from Refurbishing to Recycling -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Materials and Methods -- 2.3 Results -- 2.4 Conclusion -- References -- 3 Website Communication Capabilities and Content Related to Environmental Management-An Empirical Study of European Production Companies -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Related Work -- 3.3 Research Design -- 3.4 Website Investigation: Observed Website Properties and Obtained Descriptive Results -- 3.4.1 Environmental Menu Items -- 3.4.2 Common Environmental Artifacts -- 3.4.3 Particular Environmental Disclosure Themes -- 3.4.4 Dialogic Communication Capabilities -- 3.5 Future Research, Managerial Implications, and Best Practices -- 3.6 Conclusions -- References -- 4 Proposal for Integration of Circular Economy Within Product Portfolio Management -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Method -- 4.3 Results -- 4.4 Discussion -- 4.5 Conclusion -- References -- 5 Barriers to Closed-Loop Supply Chains Implementation in Irish Medical Device Manufacturers: Bayesian Best-Worst Method Analysis -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Literature Review -- 5.2.1 Closed-Loop Supply Chain Management and the Medical Device Sector -- 5.2.2 Barriers to CLSC Implementation in Irish Medical Device Manufacturers -- 5.3 Materials and Methods -- 5.3.1 Bayesian Best-worst Method -- 5.3.2 Research Methodology -- 5.4 Results -- 5.5 Discussion, Recommendations, and Conclusions -- 5.5.1 Barrier Ranking Discussion.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) play a key role in advancing electromobility. With an increasing trend in the demand for LIBs, the sustainability prospect of LIBs lifecycle faces many challenges that require proactive approaches. There are various sustainability challenges and risks across the supply and value chains of LIBs from mining, material supplies to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), users to final disposal. Risks are for example the increased raw material demands as well as some economic risks due to price increment or political instabilities in some countries within the raw material supply chain. Despite the promising research efforts on the performance metrics of LIBs and advancing the technology, the research on the various aspects of sustainability of LIBs and its life cycle are still in its infancy and require closer attention. As the editorial of the Special Issue on sustainable supply and value chains of EV batteries, this article presents some of the most pressing challenges of EV LIBs across the different stages of its life cycle. It covers issues from supply and demand of the battery raw materials, battery manufacturing, use, and end-of-life treatments. Within this context the reported findings of some 20 different research teams from across the globe, the state-of-the-art, technical or policy gaps in EV LIBs research and development are presented, as well as market instruments such as innovative business models, and governmental interventions like subsidies or regulations. We grouped the materials presented into five main themes (1) EV and LIB materials demand projections (2) EV LIBs international trade risk (3) EV battery regulation and adoption (4) EV LIBs life cycle assessment (5) and EV LIBs reverse logistics. We conclude by discussing some future research challenges such as the need for more reliable and applicable prediction models that use accurate data on EV stock and end-of-life EVs. Finally, we argue that more collaboration between academia, manufactures, OEMs and the battery recycling industry is needed to implement successful circular economy strategies to achieve environmentally friendly, flexible and cost-efficient battery supplies, use and recycling processes.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the international medical device trade has received extensive attention. To maintain the domestic supply of medical devices, some countries have sought multilateral trade cooperation or simply implemented export restrictions, which has exacerbated the instability and fragility of the global medical device market. It is crucial for government policymakers to identify the most influential countries in the international medical device trade and nip exports in the bud. However, few efforts have been made in previous studies to explore various countries' influence on the international medical device trade in light of their intricate trade relationships. To fill these research gaps, this study constructs a global medical device trade network (GMDTN) and explores the criticality of various countries from a network-based perspective. The evolution patterns and geographical distribution of influence among countries in the GMDTN are revealed. Details on the ways in which the influence of some crucial countries has formed are provided. The results show that the global medical device trade market is export oriented. The formation of some countries' strong influence may be due to their large number of trading partners or the deep dependence of some of those trading partners on that country (namely, breadth- or depth-based patterns). It is worth noting that the US has a dominant position in the international medical device trade in terms of both breadth and depth. In addition, some countries play a critical role as intermediate points in the influence formation process of other countries, although these countries are not critical direct trading partners. The findings of this study provide implications for policymakers seeking to understand the influence of countries on the international medical device trade and to proactively prepare responses to unexpected changes in this trade.