Scania and KTH continue research on circular manufacturing for trucks
Following the success of the Vinnova-funded iReGear project, Scania and the Circular Manufacturing Systems team at IPU continue to explore new ways to enhance the circularity of trucks. Earlier this year, a new study was launched to assess the feasibility of enhancing the circularity of truck cabins. The project involves KTH, Scania, and several Swedish industrial partners.
Farazee Asif, Assistant Professor and Docent at the Department of Production Engineering, is leading the new FFI-Circularity Vinnova-funded project that focuses on truck cabin circularity.
“The shift to a circular economy is no longer optional—it’s a necessity to combat resource scarcity, material price volatility, and growing environmental pressures. Achieving a circular economy requires increasing remanufacturing intensity, which remains significantly underutilized with an intensity of just 1 percent in the EU automotive industry,” says Farazee Asif.
Remanufacturing has proven to be a successful strategy from technical, economic, and environmental standpoints. Yet, despite its benefits, much of the automotive industry continues to overlook key components when it comes to circularity. For instance, large portions of the truck—particularly the cabin components—remain largely untapped in circular initiatives.
“The truck cabin is a major contributor to both the vehicle’s mass and environmental footprint, due to its complex material composition and emissions during production and end-of-life stages,” says Farazee Asif. “In many cases, we simply don’t know what happens to most cabin components after their use. For instance, plastics are often incinerated, highlighting a significant gap in current circularity practices.”
The project aims to establish an ecosystem considering relevant value chain partners to ensure optimised material handling at different stages of the cabin lifecycle to enhance the circularity of trucks.
The CIRCAB project brings together key value chain actors—including a Tier 1 supplier, manufacturer, service provider, dismantler, recycler, and recycled materials compounder—covering all stages of the truck cabin’s lifecycle, from part supply and production to use, dismantling, and end-of-life. The initiative places particular emphasis on improving the circularity of plastics within this system.
Read the project summary on vinnova.se (in Swedish): Förstudie kring förbättrad cirkularitet av lastbilshytter (CIRCAB)
Read more about the iReGear project: Scania cooperation shows promise of remanufactured products
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