LEVEL-UP Circularity Protocols provide large industrial equipment with a longer life
The EU-financed LEVEL-UP project offered circularity protocols and strategies for extending the remaining useful life of large industrial equipment and assets that can no longer remain competitive in the Industry 4.0 paradigm.
The 10 Protocols are:
- Modernise
- Functional diagnosis
- Inspection
- Repair
- Disassembly
- Upgrade
- Refurbish
- Remanufacture
- Recycling
- Reassembly & testing
They describe what actions and processes should be executed in a structured and formalised manner in order to modernize, upgrade and extend the lifetime of large industrial equipment, connecting them to the Industry 4.0 paradigm and increasing their competitiveness and ROI.
This avoids manufacturers having to purchase new large equipment, which would involve a large economic investment.
The project's deliverables are available here, including:
LEVEL-UP Circularity Guidelines, a document providing the definition and a detailed description of each protocol, including purposes, conditions, as well as a list of the detailed actions and steps to be adopted. For each protocol, it also gives a flowchart to visualize the process and interaction of different actions and steps. The guidelines and flowcharts will accelerate industrial companies to understand and adopt the LEVEL-UP Circular protocols.