Circular business models and industrial strategies proposed by FENIX will be demonstrated in practice through the exploitation of different existing pilot plants, adequately reconfigured and integrated basing on circular needs considered during the project. Among pilot plants, POLIMI’s Industry 4.0 Lab is responsible for demonstrating how I4.0-based technologies can effectively support Circular Economy practices, by virtually testing a Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) disassembly process configuration through a set of dedicated simulation tools.
Industry 4.0 Lab is one of the few pilot plants in Italy fully focused on demonstrating benefits coming from the introduction of I4.0 technologies in manufacturing. The core of the lab is constituted by a fully automated assembly/disassembly line, able to assemble/disassemble a simplified version of a smartphone. Different I4.0-based technologies allow to track and trace, control and optimize the resource flows involved in a manufacturing process, by developing and exploiting also real-time simulation tools (Digital Twins).
The adoption of the Industry 4.0 Lab highlights as service-oriented, event-driven processing and information models can support the integration of smart and digital solutions in current Circular Economy practices at factory level, helping companies in re-thinking their business strategies and models in view of both the Circular Economy and Industry 4.0 paradigms.
