Who we are

CNR

Institute of Industrial Technologies and Automation of National Research Council (ITIA – CNR), as a promoter of industrial innovation, performs strategic activities of Scientific Research and Technological Development for the competitiveness and sustainability of Italian and European Manufacturing and De-manufacturing Industries. Institute of Industrial Technologies and Automation of CNR acts in tight collaboration with Enterprises, Universities, Research Centres and Institutions within National, European and International programmes, projects and industrial contracts. Scientific, technological development and transfer research activities have led to the development of competences within innovative enabling technologies as:

• De-manufacturing technologies, including robotic disassembly, remanufacturing and mechanical shredding and separation processes.
• New business models for the Manufacturing and De-manufacturing Industry
• ICT for reverse logistics planning.
• Methodologies and virtual tools for 3D planning and simulation of product, process and manufacturing/de-manufacturing systems
• Technologies and platforms for the control, supervising, monitoring and integration of machines, production processes and business organization processes.

In particular, people involved in the project deals with (i) Multi-disciplinary research at business models and supply chain level, (ii) Disassembly technologies based on the human-robot cooperation paradigm, (iii) Electronics micro-disassembly and remanufacturing and (iv) innovative hybrid and micro-actuated separation technologies.

LIU

Linköping University counts a total of 27,000 students with an income of 340 M€. LIU has 4,000 employees where 45% is working within education and 55% within research. At the department of Management and Engineering, researchers have been conducting research within remanufacturing, product-service systems and service design since late 1990s attracting significant attention from industry and academia. In industry, technologies and methods have been implemented and discussed in popular science press and business press. In academia, numerous papers have been published in international journals and at international conferences. These papers has been elucidated for example by other researchers’’ reviews stating that Linköping University is the 4th most publishing university in the world when it comes to the field of product-service systems. Thanks to the background and long experience within remanufacturing, product-service systems and service design, anchored in both engineering and business research, LiU staff will work in the CarE-service project on the design of business models for remanufacturing and product-service systems which includes both methods for product design and service design.

ENVIROBAT

Envirobat is a company founded in 2007 specialized in the recycling of all type of batteries declassified by the manufacturers, including the withdrawal of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) products. Envirobat carries out different types of activities related to environmental development, environmental studies, recovery and recycling of materials. In particular, Envirobat works with the most important national producers, as well as with the main Integrated Systems of Management of Batteries (GIS) both national and European. Relations with the clients are based on high quality standards of all our processed and, assisting them within all steps: collection, legal advisory, environmental consultancy and R&D.
Envirobat is committed with the Circular Economy Goal. Indeed, during the last years, Envirobat is being present in a strategy line for the recovery of metals from alkaline spent batteries employing a new method completely different from current. Within this roadmap, Envirobat is participating in new interesting processes for reusing and/or recovering all types of spent batteries (Li, Ni-Metal, etc) and being involved in the development or the recycling processes for the new types of batteries that are under development prior to their commercial deployment. In the CarE-Service project, Envirobat is leading the reusing and recycling of Batteries being responseble of building up the real implementation processes to demonstrate both reuse and recycling applications.

PRODIGENTIA

Prodigentia is a software company, building software solutions for the Circular Economy. Prodigentia has team of 35 employees, most of them are software developers, but also project managers, analysts and designers (specialized in UI/UX – User Interface / User eXperience). With more than 10 years of expertise in this sector, Prodigentia has built from the grounds up a powerful and highly customizable software suite – GreenERP – targeted to customers like Compliance Schemes, Waste Operators, Producers/Manufacturers, Refurbishers/Remanufacturers and Government Bodies.
The GreenERP software suite is the first software solution for compliance schemes, with customers in 14 countries in Europe, but also in North and South America. In particular, it provides the following functionalities: compliance processes for the manufacturers compliance schemes and government, logistics, recycler, refurbished and remanufacturer management. Prodigentia’s customers are using the GreenERP solution to manage more than 40.000 collection points, more than 600 waste operators, more than 5 Gb of waste evidence per month and more than 40.000 logistics operations per month.
Prodigentia provides turn-key solutions to its customers, not only by delivering the GreenERP software suite, but also providing consulting services on process design and optimization. The Prodigentia expertise in the circular economy provides also process optimization, implementing the best practises in the market.
The GreenERP software suite will be used and customized to suit the project needs in the CarE-service project.

CSIC

The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) is Spain’s largest public research institution, and ranks third among Europe’s largest research organization. It is attached to the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness through the State Secretariat for Research, Development and Innovation, and plays a key role in scientific and technological policy in Spain and worldwide.
CSIC, through their National Center for Metallurgical Research (CENIM) has an experience of more than 20 years working in the valorization and recycling of several solid materials and liquid effluents coming from different industrial sectors. The CENIM, and in particular the Eco-innovative Technologies applied to Environmental Processes, Recycling of Materials and Energy Utilization Group (TecnoEco Group) have great experience in the recycling of waste and sub-products via physical-, hydro-, and pyrometallurgical techniques. The investigations carried out by the group are based in several topics joining basic with applied research. Nowadays the recycling of materials is of the foremost importance, thus greater efforts had been materialized in the successful investigation about the recycle of carbon fibers from aerospace industry, biomass from different sources, flue dusts from steel and copper industries, etc.
CSIC will coordinate the dissemination activities of the project, having Open Access tools as well as the digital repository CSIC and the Metallurgy Journal, included in SCI. CSIC will publish the most interesting results of the project in SCI journals to make them visible to the scientific audience, exploiting thus the know-how acquired during the project. Besides, part of the results will be presented in specialized conferences.

C-ECO

The Circular Economy Solutions GmbH [C-ECO] was founded in February 2016. C-ECO provides service solutions for the Circular Economy and related businesses and is offering modular packages that can be flexibly adapted to suit individual customer requirements. The company has its headquarter in Goettingen, Germany and an additional office in Karlsruhe, Germany. In 2017, C-ECO opened a representation in North America located in Chicago. The 22 C-ECO employees have more than 150 years of experience in Reverse Logistics and Remanufacturing. C-ECO runs a worldwide leading reverse logistics network for used automotive parts under the service brand ”CoremanNet”. With a network of 21 logistic hubs and three warehouses spread across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific, the service of CoremanNet handles about 2.7M used parts per year. The system offers an international reverse logistics service for used parts with a simple and reliable return process including compensation of financial incentives. This effective interface between dealer and remanufacturer provides the requested parts in a timely manner and in a defined quality to the remanufacturing plant. With a return ratio of approx. 90% and one of the largest collection volumes in the market, CoremanNet contributes strongly to circular manufacturing systems in the automotive industry. The all-round service is completed by consultancy from senior experts.

COBAT

COBAT is the leading and the oldest National Italian compliance scheme for the collection and recycling of batteries and accumulators. COBAT started its activity in 1988, when it was established by law of the Italian Parliament for the collection and recycling of spent lead-acid batteries. In November 2008, after exactly twenty years, with the Italian transposition of the European Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators, COBAT ended to be an obligatory consortium and became one of voluntary compliance schemes collecting and recycling batteries and accumulators. With the end of the obligatory regime COBAT changed completely its identity, but in the same time the new scenarios became a great opportunity to extend the activity to other sectors and other products, like WEEE.
Today, in terms of put on the market of its enrolled producers, COBAT is the main compliance scheme for batteries and accumulators and the sixth compliance scheme for WEEE. COBAT, for its history, is surely the Italian compliance scheme with the greatest experience in waste batteries management, relying on a collecting network of more than one hundred companies across the country and three recycling plants for lead batteries with a much higher capacity than the quantities collected.
Within the CarE-Service project, COBAT will deal with the design and simulation of the logistics needed to implement services according to the realized technical solutions and compliance with the legislative regulations.

FCA

Fiat Chrysler Automotive (FCA) designs, engineers, manufactures and sells vehicles and related parts and services, components and production systems worldwide through 162 manufacturing facilities, 87 R&D centers, and dealers and distributors in more than 140 countries. The Group’s automotive brands are: Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Jeep, Lancia, Ram, SRT, Maserati and Mopar, the parts and service brand. The Group’s businesses also include Comau (production systems), Magneti Marelli (components) and Teksid (iron and castings). In addition, the Group provides retail and dealer finance, leasing and rental services in support of the car business through subsidiaries, joint ventures and commercial agreements with specialized financing services providers. FCA is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“FCAU”) and the Mercato Telematico Azionario in Milan (“FCA”).

RadiciGroup Performance Plastics

Founded in 1981 in Italy, Radici Group Performance Plastics has capitalized on RadiciGroup’s vertically integrated polyamide production to become a global manufacturer of a complete range of engineering plastics meeting the needs of the automotive, electrical/electronics, furnishings, consumer goods and other industries. With plants located in four continents and a worldwide sales network, RadiciGroup Performance Plastics produces high-quality products according to international standards and provides state-of-the-art support for R&D and processing technologies. RadiciGroup’s vertical integration in polyamides, coupled with the high flexibility of its polymerization plants, is the basis for the continuous expansion of its polyamide-based product range, from long-chain to high-temperature polyamides.
RadiciGroup Performance Plastics is fully committed to the circular economy, where the value of products and materials is preserved for as long as possible. The goal is to reduce resource usage, minimize waste and recycle products at the end of their useful life to create further value.

IMA

IMA Materialforschung und Anwendungstechnik GmbH Dresden (IMA) is one of the top three companies for industrial test and measurement providers in Germany. IMA develops and performs customised testing of all types of materials and components. It has comprehensive engineering competence in issues of stability, function and reliability. IMA can provide support throughout the entire product development process, helping to verify product’s durability, function and safety. The focal point of IMAs business is the design, performance and evaluation of certification and development tests for complex structures and components. IMA offers an impressive portfolio of services, including stability calculations, experimental component testing and damage analyses. IMA has experience in preparation and performance of material tests. This includes static, cyclical and dynamic tests as well as static long-term tests. There are nearly no restrictions regarding the test standard to be used or the material to be tested. In addition, IMA has strong experience in the automotive industry having consumers all over Europe and being directly involved in the European and national standardization of the vehicles strength. The company will bring its core expertise in developing customised testing in the CarE-service project especially for developing new technologies and processes.

Fraunhofer IWU

Fraunhofer IWU is the leading institute for resource-efficient production within Fraunhofer, with over 600 staff members. Fraunhofer IWU is an important R&D partner for the automotive/ vehicle, machine tool and mechanical engineering industries. It develops efficient value chain and supply chain processes, particularly in the machine tool, vehicle and component production sectors. Recent research includes methods to combine manufacturing technologies and novel functional materials and digitisation in manufacturing and factory planning.

In CarE-Service, Fraunhofer IWU is responsible for developing novel circular economy technologies in metal forming and joining technologies, for example reforming automobile outer skin non-structural elements and flexible, easy-to-disassemble joining systems. The technology demonstration will prove the possibility to produce metal spare parts for new vehicle models out of post-use parts of old models (or to produce metal parts for mopeds used in a multi-vehicle urban metropolitan sharing service out of parts of post-use cars).

AVICENNE

AVICENNE is a market research and consulting firm with an experience of 25 years in battery industry (Li-ion, NiMH, fuel cells). The mission of the company is to ensure close contact with battery manufacturers, suppliers of electronics, chemical components, and OEM, for all the applications, from micro-batteries for smart cards to large format for UPS, telecom or Energy storage. According to this expertise and relying on the link with a wide stakeholder network, AVICENNE has been identified has the Risk manager and it will in charge of identify, analyse and minimise the risks and side effects threating establishment of the business models, new mobility services and the three value chains developed in the CarE-Service solutions.
AVICENNE will exploit the knowledge gathered during the project for delivering high value consulting services to automotive companies, battery manufacturers, renewable energy companies and companies in the plastics industry. Moreover, AVICENNE will enlarge its portfolio of sustainability-related services boosting the fast diffusion of new service-based circular businesses in EU.

CIA

CIA Automation and Robotics s.r.l. is specialised in industrial automation and integrates robotic systems in many sectors of industrial automation. With this experience CIA is positioned as one of the leading integrators of automated and robotic systems, developing innovative systems in collaboration with the most important universities and research centres as well as with advanced companies in the technology research. CIA is located in Lombardia and each unit is designed according to customer requirements. CIA designs and produces robot-based automated systems. Each unit is developed, designed and produced using the most modern technological instruments, in order to satisfy the needs and expectations of every client.
CIA produces machinery in a context which is suited to the movement of goods and equipment, also of large size. CIA produces internally each component of the systems, using CNC and machining centeres. Each automated unit is assembled and pre-tested before delivery. In addition, CIA designs and produces automated systems and industrial electrical equipment for testing and quality control systems, managing and supervision of machines and production lines, dosing systems and filling and for machines. Moreover, CIA organises and promotes training courses for personnel who are using its automated machines. After delivery and testing on client premises, operators take part in a course regarding the functioning of the machines. Each unit is delivered with a manual in the required language and EU certification.

E VAI s.r.l

E-Vai is a Car Sharing Provider, operating in Lombardy Region since 2010. E VAI aims to promote sustainable mobility through electric car-sharing developing sustainable modes of transport in electric, in line with the objectives set by Lombardy Region in its Smart Specialization Strategy (S3). E-Vai has made an important infrastructure route in Lombardy over the years and has the technical and ‘cultural’ know-how for the management of potential electric car users. The electric car sharing service proposed by E Vai is complementary to the regional railway service and aims to create a door-to-door intermodal service in the Lombardy Region. E VAI has 90 car pick-up points in over 40 cities in Lombardy and at airports in Milan and Bergamo, 45 charging infrastructures for exclusive use, a fleet of 93 cars, of which 84% are electric.

European Commission Joint Research Centre

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, which employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support to EU policies.
As the science and knowledge service of the Commission, the mission of the JRC is to support EU policies with independent evidence throughout the whole policy cycle. The JRC functions as a reference centre of science and technology for the EU. Close to the policy-making process, it serves the common interest of the Member States, while being independent of special interests, whether commercial or national.
EV battery safety, recycling and second use are relevant JRC research activities within the CarE-Service consortium. JRC also contributes to the project in creating and managing scientific knowledge related to the sustainable use of resources in novel mobility systems, such as the monitoring of stocks and flows of critical raw materials.