Monitoring and advancing the circular economy transition : Circularity indicators and tools applied to the heavy vehicle industry.

Summary This thesis provides keys to measure, improve and pilot the circularity performance of industrial products at different scales of implementation of the circular economy (micro, meso, macro). Several circularity indicators are tested through an industrial case study and a critical analysis of these indicators is performed with respect to, among others, the circular economy paradigm, and their integration in industrial practices of (re)design and development of products and services. At the same time, in response to the growing number of circularity indicators developed, with unequal perimeters and ambitions, a taxonomy of circularity indicators is proposed in order to clarify the current vagueness around this nebula of circularity indicators. This ordered classification of indicators is accompanied by a computerized selection tool to facilitate their appropriate use. A new circularity indicator is also developed and tested, and recommendations for the development of future indicators are discussed. Although the indicators discussed in the thesis are intended to be used for any type of sector, the heavy vehicle industry is the framework for their application. Indeed, in the absence of European regulations on the end-of-life of these vehicles, the aim is to identify, question and test the action levers that this industry can activate to improve its performance in a circular economy perspective.First, the best practices and current challenges of the light and heavy vehicle industry are highlighted with respect to the four cornerstones of the circular economy defined by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (circular design, new business models, reverse logistics, ecosystem) and the four main loops of the circular model (maintenance, reuse, reconditioning, recycling). These best practices are synthesized in a two-page guide to facilitate their dissemination and adoption by industrial practitioners wishing to implement such circularity models. Subsequently, a pilot industrial study was conducted with a material handling equipment manufacturer seeking to develop its end-of-life equipment reconditioning activity. Inspired by field investigations coupled with an extensive state of the art, a multi-scale modeling - a) machine and key components, b) dismantling process, c) recovery channels - allowed (i) to propose and validate an improvement (in time and resources) of the dismantling operations from an organizational and technical point of view, (ii) to carry out an economic and environmental analysis of the dismantling and recovery activities A first decision support tool has also been designed to assist the industrialist in the optimal recovery of his equipment at the end of its life. Reflections on the generalization and transposition of the developed approaches to other devices or sectors are given, as well as promising research tracks to further accomplish the transition towards a circular economy - effective, efficient and sustainable.