Products that Last. Conny Bakker

      products that last – 9

      Preface

      The urgency to develop industry, trade and consumption towards a sustainable dynamic has become all too familiar. These days we discuss Circular Economy as the solution to our troubles and recycling is considered by many as the knight in shining armour who will make that happen. However, against the background of making products last, Circular Economy is an important tool, but the technical question if a material can be shredded and regenerated is only a rather trivial part of it.

      This book is certainly not about recycling. That issue is indeed addressed in the book complementary to Products that Last, entitled ‘Products that Flow’ (also BIS Publishers). It concerns the manageability of flows of fast moving goods, such as disposables and packaging and relevant business and design potential.

      The questions we get asked about lasting goods concern equally profound systemic shifts. We have to move from creating things that are produced, sold and mostly neglected to become waste, towards making products with value that we can cultivate during longer periods of time. That is what is implied by changing from a linear to a circular economic model. The difficulty here is not the environmental preferability of a circular over a linear economy, for there is no way on earth in which we can continue selling things and ignoring the consequences over the next 50 years or so. The difficulty does lie in finding ways to get there. How should we shape the circular economy? What kinds of products, services and schemes should we be developing?

      This book is the result of a three-year research effort into business scenarios that prolonged product lifespans may present. It helps slow down the speed of the flow of materials and goods through society, addresses consumption practices, reduces waste and ‘buys us time’ for more careful development.

      Systemic change is not easy, but certainly tempting. The challenge is to find different perspectives, which at first may be unusual, for business development and fresh design concepts to match. The key is to analyse what your current tacit assumptions are and use those to envision long term opportunities. Making products last requires exploration of what may happen long after they were put to use. Think 30 years. Designers are able to explore new directions and express ideas that are in line with new business models. Entrepreneurs can focus on redefining their responsibility and on developing new partnerships that can contribute to sustaining long term product value. At the end of the day circularity first and foremost depends on cooperation.

      We therefore dedicate this book to all active change agents and open-minded people: join us. Let us begin by challenging the ‘sell more, sell faster’ habit and explore the opportunities offered by a much longer product life.

      Conny Bakker, Marcel den Hollander, Ed van Hinte, Yvo Zijlstra

      Image left: We have produced 8,000 tonnes of space debris, which basically means some 29.000 objects which are bigger than 10 centimeters and, maybe, around one million smaller ones. Most of them will live forever. Collisions with new objects will multiply their number and increase the danger of more accidents.

      10

      #1

      #2

      #3

      #4

      #5

      what is the category life Cycle stage for your product

      Introduction and growth

      Maturity

      classic long life

      hybrid

      GAP

      EXPLOITER

      ACCESS

      PERFORMANCE

      What is your Business Model Archetype?

      start anywhere

      sharing the future

      product component of value proposition

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