DSM Dyneema produces an extremely strong fibre called Dyneema® consisting of Ultra High Molecular weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE). The Dyneema® material has been trademarked by its manufacturer as The Greenest strength™. This claim is based on the non-toxic chemical nature of the material and its production, as well as on having the lowest carbon footprint on a strength to weight ratio. Due to this strength of the fibre, less material is required than alternatives to achieve the same level of performance, thus a reduction in carbon footprint can be achieved. The Carbon footprint during manufacturing and use is lower than its competitors.
However at the end of its product life Dyneema® fibre products are incinerated or landfilled. DSM Dyneema wants to have a circular alternative for the end of life of Dyneema® fibre products. In this thesis the design process is described to create a circular product from production waste material from Dyneema®.
Using the context variation by design approach, requirements for a circular product are combined with material properties and possible contexts for applications. The result is a design proposal for a summer sleeping bag, that is well suited for the different types of use that befall a summer sleeping bag. It will be made from Dyneema® production waste and recycled materials, and allows user to send it back to the manufacturer after it has lived out its useful life, free of charge. The manufacturer can then re-use the materials for new sleeping bags, or recycle them otherwise, thus preventing the material from falling out of the loop.

aQysta is a company that has developed spiral pumps that can deliver water for irrigation through hydraulic energy (aQysta, 2018). That makes these pumps very dependent on the location where they are placed for their water delivery. Their dependency on hydropower also impacts the water supply of these pumps to surrounding irrigation fields (Lawrence et al., 2018). Besides technical boundary conditions these pumps also have to compete with traditional powered pumps and stakeholder opinions considering this is a new technology. All these factors contribute to a rather exciting process to find the right locations for these pumps, or Pump Placement Process (PPP). Since this PPP has to be adapted to many different regions around the world the PPP becomes very complex and time intensive. Context Variation by Design (CVD) is an approach that might offer a solution to this PPP. This approach lets the user utilize the strength of many different contexts, which coincide with the many regions where the pumps are being installed (Kersten, Crul, Engelen, van, & Diehl, 2018). An Adaptive Framework (AF) has been constructed that allows the various projects in the PPP to be compared with each other according to the CVD approach. This AF was subsequently filled in by various people active in aQysta’s PPP, and by comparing different projects new patterns have arisen. These patterns offer new ways to investigate and improve the PPP. It has thus been proven possible to apply CVD to aQysta’s PPP and create new insights concerning the PPP.

Early supplier involvement (ESI) can be defined as a mechanism for involving preferred suppliers in the early phases of product design and development. The concept of ESI is frequently mentioned in the context of New Product Development (NPD) and has been in existence for over half a century with positive results in a number of industries. In the Dutch infrastructure sector however, the implementation of the ESI concept is not yet as widespread as in the automotive or electronics industries. Consequently, the opportunity to conduct this study comes from the recent developments that resulted in an increased reliance on suppliers' knowledge in Dutch infrastructure projects, combined to the fact that ESI seems to be a potential solution to cope with those changes. Therefore, through literature study and interviews with practitioners within the Dutch infrastructure sector, it is aimed to identify the current status of ESI within the Dutch infrastructure sector, identify barriers and stimuli to the ESI process and derive some recommendations for the sector.