The Future of Washing as a Service in a Circular Economy

Abstract

Bundles is a Dutch startup that is working on developing circular propositions by offering products on a subscription model. Bundles already offer high-quality Miele washing machines on a “pay per wash” model to consumers. However, high lifecycle costs hinder the competitiveness of the business. This high cost is a result of the product (washing machine) and service (subscription model) not being developed in tandem with each other. The current washing machine is not designed for the Circular Economy (CE) and not designed for multiple use cycles.
CE, Digital Technologies and Product Service Systems Different academics point out that digital technologies create opportunities for circular propositions (e.g., Ellen MacArthur Foundation,2016; Pagoropoulos et al., 2017; Bressanelli et al., 2018). The connection of products through the internet enables them to sense their own and their environments status, process this information and interact with their users. These capabilities help service providers to extend the useful life of products, maximise the utilisation of products, loop products through additional use cycles, regenerate natural capital from their products, and make sure these products are used efficiently. Bundles currently, uses a smart plug to connect their devices to the internet which generates little insights for users and the service. Washing machines that last forever Through the knowledge of the condition and status of a WM, PSS can increase the useful service life of the WM eternally by enabling lifetime extending strategies like maintenance, service, refurbishing and remanufacturing . With washing machines, proactive service and maintenance is important for the service life of a washing machine. Users are critical stakeholder in enabling proper maintenance and service as if they do not participate in the service and maintenance process, the actions do not succeed. Fogg (2009) describes in his behavior change model three elements needed for a behavior to occur – Motivation, Ability, and Trigger. If a person has high motivation to do an action and the ability to do it and triggered in the right way, the action will occur.

Design Solution
The result of this design project is a User Interface framework for enabling easy and efficient maintenance and service of the WM. The concept looks at the different faults and maintenance actions for a washing machine and describes three different states of a WM.
Green State – the Most desired state where the machine is functioning perfectly and does not require any user action
Yellow State – A state where the functionality is intact but the machine requires maintenance action to be done
Red State – A state when the functionality is seized due to a fault and requires a service action to fix it.
The concept also looks at the transitions between the different states and what causes them and what action is needed to bring the machine to the green state. On the basis of the different actions, and a behavior change model that is aimed at motivating users and giving them the ability to carry out the maintenance and service actions, a UI concept is generated. This concept brings together Digital Technologies enabling circularity in a PSS.