Product lifetime
Product lifetime or product lifespan is the time interval from when a product is sold to when it is discarded. and Oguchi et al. More specifically:
Product lifetime refers to the useful life of a product; the time during which the product remains integer and usable for its primary function for which it was conceived and produced".So to Ertz et al. this excludes recycling. Product lifetime is slightly different from service life because the latter consider only the effective time the product is used. It is also different from product economic life which refers to the point where maintaining a product is more expensive than replacing it; from product technical life which refers to the maximum period during which a product has the physical capacity to function; and from the functional life which is the time a product should last regardless of external intervention to increase its lifespan.
Product lifetime represent an important area of enquiry with regards to product design, the circular economy and sustainable development. This is because products, with the materials involved in their design, production, distribution, use and disposal, embody carbon due to the energy involved in these processes. Therefore, if product lifetimes can be extended, the use of energy, embodied in carbon, can be reduced and progress can be made towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions: Bocken et al. term this "Slowing resource loops". In addition, excessive waste generation has been attributed to short-lived goods and a throwaway society.
In recent years, there has been a growth in academic and policy discussions around product lifetimes. For example, discussion of product lifetimes are an integral part of the European Commission's action plan for the circular economy. In academia, the PLATE Consortium hosts regular conferences and seminars around the topic of product lifetimes and the environment. In the business world, the Canadian Kijiji platform's Secondhand Economy Index examines how consumers extend product lifetime through secondhand markeplaces, swapping, donating and renting/leasing/lending/pooling.
This article examines how product lifetimes are defined in the academic literature and discusses how product lifetimes can be measured. A distinction is made between the definition and measurement of actual and expected product lifetimes.
Defining product lifetimes
Definitions of product lifetimes vary depending on what aspects those conducting research are interested in. Generally, actual product lifetimes refer to the actual time that a product exists in a particular state. In contrast, expected product lifetimes refer to users' expectations for the lifetime of a product. Additionally, actual and expected product lifetimes are influenced by durability and longevity; these concepts are briefly outlined below.Durability is described by Cooper as "the ability of a product to perform its required function over a lengthy period under normal use conditions of use without excessive expenditure on maintenance or repair". In contrast, longevity encompasses more than just the material properties of the product. Cooper notes that user behaviour, and broader social and cultural trends play important roles in the product's longevity. The paragraphs below outline the definitions of actual and expected product lifetimes.
Actual product lifetimes
Exhaustive work has been undertaken by Murakami et al. and Oguchi et al. and to outline several definitions and discuss methods for identifying actual product lifetimes. Murkami et al. identify the following overarching concepts in product lifetime definitions which are discussed below: Age, Residential time, Service life, Possession span and Duration of use.Age
A product's age is the time from when the product was created to either the present or "the time of interest" for the researchers.Residential time
Residential time is considered to be time in which a product, its constituent materials and parts, exists in society. Residential time includes the time in which a product may be broken and/ or discarded.Service life
According to Murkami et al., the service life of a product refers to the duration of time for which products continue to work and can be used.Possession span
The possession span is the period of time that a user has possession of the product.Duration of use
The duration of use indicates how long a user uses the product for. Murkami et al. distinguish duration of use from Service life by noting that duration of use is measured for a specific user, whereas Service life describes the total in-service use of the product for all its users. Additionally, possession span is distinguished from duration of use, as possession span includes "dead storage" time, where a product is owned by a user but not in use.Product lifetime extension
Definition
The perceived shortening of product lifetime and the prominent issue of planned obsolescence have led many researchers to study how product lifetime might be extended. The PLE concept operationalizes in practice the circular or closed loop ecoomy. PLE contributes substantially to the "starting loop strategy" and the "slowing loop strategy" pertaining to the ciruclar economy, by prolonging the useful life of products through design for long-life, called "nature strategies", as well as by life extending measures such as repair, remanufacturing, refurbishment, reconditioning and reuse, called "nurture strategies".PLE encompasses behaviors, processes, systems, and procedures by consumers or organizations, contributing both to product nature and/or nurture. More specifically, PLE strategies enhance the useful life of a product, in design, as well as through maintenance and prolongedThe Table below shows the various nature and nurture strategies for product lifetime extension.
use with a consumer or actors.
| PLE strategy | Activities | Sub-activities | Definition |
| Nature | Improved product design | Improved product and production process | Use of more durable parts, components, and production processes |
| Nature | Improved product design | Improved design for repair | Better design for repair, remanufacturing, refurbishing, and reconditioning; Design for up-datable or up-gradable products that do not have to be replaced in their entirety. |
| Nurture | Access schemes | Access schemes | Leasing: the lessee pays a regular fee for unlimited and individual use of the product. |
| Nurture | Access schemes | Access schemes | Renting: the customer uses the product individually for a predetermined period. |
| Nurture | Access schemes | Access schemes | Mutualising: the product is sequentially used by different customers. |
| Nurture | Access schemes | Access schemes | Pooling: the simultaneous use of a product by different customers. |
| Nurture | Maintenance | Maintenance | Maintenance contracts: involve warranty, spare parts and consumables delivery, inspection and diagnosis, updates/upgrades, cleaning/safe-keeping, and product installation/start-up/commissioning. |
| Nurture | Maintenance | Advice | Advice contracts: through help desks, the provider dispenses information and assistance to customers regarding the management of product use, maintenance and repair via phone, email, and internet services, allowing direct access to the supplier database. |
| Nurture | Maintenance | Training | Training contracts: the provider offers training services to support the client while defining how to use a product and obtain best performance, improving the product efficiency during use while assuring the safety and/or improving the business. |
| Nurture | Maintenance | Consultancy | Consultancy contracts: The provider offers consulting services to the customer regarding product development and use, as well as on business improvements. |
| Nurture | Redistribution | Donation | Free passing of goods from one consumer who does not use it anymore to another consumer who needs it. |
| Nurture | Redistribution | Swapping | Direct exchange of goods where no money or equivalent medium is involved. Goods may also be exchanged for services and services for goods. |
| Nurture | Redistribution | Secondhand marketplace | Exchange between two parties involving the transfer of a preowned good in exchange for an amount of money considered equivalent to it. |
| Nurture | Recovery | Product repair | repair: A provider offers repair services that may be performed on- or off-site, directly or remotely, programmed or available 24/7 for emergencies. |
| Nurture | Recovery | Product repair | Preventive reparation: reparation programs that are defined by a contract may be proposed in standard, customised or special formats. |
| Nurture | Recovery | Product repair | Full-reparation contract: A provider is completely responsible for the product performance. These solutions are nearly always provided through a package. |
| Nurture | Recovery | Remanufacturing / refurbishing / repackaging / reconditioning | The provider remanufactures, refurbishes or reconditions existing products typically sourced from reverse logistics systems, inverse supply chain, take back schemes, trade-in programs, buy-back offers, or commercial returns. The provider offers a like-new product, often with a like-new warranty and a new serial number starting from an old product that has been completely or partially disassembled and rebuilt up to include all product updates. |
Source: Ertz, M., Leblanc-Proulx, S., Sarigöllü, E., & Morin, V.. . Journal of Cleaner Production; Ertz, M., Leblanc-Proulx, S., Sarigöllü, E., & Morin, V.. . Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 150, 104437.
Product lifetime extension business models (PLEBM)
PLE is enacted through various entities that can be generically denominated as product lifetime extension business models and which aim at improving product design or increase the lifetime of the product during post-production phases. Any organization could constitute a PLEBM for as long as it contributes to increase product lifetime. The Product lifetime extension business model framework is a typology of PLE business models based on Osterwalder and Pigneur's framework. Any business extending product lifetime to some extent can be descirbed along seven key dimensions. The integration of peers as key partners in the PLEBM framework, shows the importance of individual consumers in PLE efforts, and the framework draws a direct link between PLE and the sharing economy. A typology based on the "key activities" and "key partners" dimensions, any company that engages in PLE practices belongs to any one of the seven models on product lifetime extension, as follows:- "Relational product-as-a-service": Mainly large corporate manufacturers. They create value byproviding maintenance2and recovery, especially reparation. Products are sourced by organizations, but peersare also providers because these organizations are not onlyinvolved in B2B but also B2C/C2B configurations.For example,Samsung or Toshiba provide repair and maintenanceservice to corporate clients but also to end users, i.e. consumers who may encounter issues with their smartphones, tablets or lap-tops. Consistent with their service orientation, a relatively highshare of these organizations uses direct channels such as techni-cians and salespeople who intervene in client premises. Hence, thecustomer relationship is mainly relational, and the highshare of transactional relationships may be associated with the B2C segments, since large corporations lack direct contact withconsumers as opposed to their business partners. For example,Cisco Certified Technicians work with the Technical AssistanceCenter to, quickly and efficiently, resolve support incidents at clientsites. As such, the revenue stream consists mainly of usage fee with service agreements, and asset sales.
- Brick&click product nurturer: Many car and truck/engine companies belong to this group. They conduct virtually all types of PLE activities, except product design.They specialize in both maintenance and recovery, while redistribution, access, and remanufacturing activities are less systematic. In addition to the organization-provided products, some companies also rely on peers to source products. The scope of the different maintenance services varies from tracking of repair activities, recommendation of optimum machines, optionsand attachments, consumables and spare parts delivery, to client information concerning the nearestservice center in case of failure. In contrast to relational product-as-a-service, Brick&click product nurturer offer redistribution and access opportunities, spanning more comprehensively the continuum of product nurturing activities. Hence, the revenue model is more diversified, namely with asset sale as well as lending/renting/leasing, and licensing, in addition to usage fee. Although mostly using physicalstores and direct channels, these organizations also rely heavily on digital platforms, but in interactive rather thantransactional form.
- Quality product designer: These companies can be roughly divided into two groups: organizations that manufacture high-end luxury ; and organizations that produce massconsumption goods with superior product design. They focus on superior design while offering repairand recovery solutions. They uniquely focus on product superior design, or product “nature” rather than “nurture”. Some also perform maintenance, and re-covery in the form of reparation. Hence, together with Brick&click product nurturers, they span across a broad array of activities. However, in contrast to Brick-and-click product nurturers specializing on PLE activities improving the nurture of products, quality product designer focus on activities improving the nature of products. Thus, stores, as well as transactional platforms and mail/transport, constitute predominant channels of product sourcing. As some of these organizations generate revenues through usage fee, typically through maintenance con-tracts, a higher share relies on asset sale.
- Secondhand vendor: second hand organizations create value through redistribution only. These organizations facilitate the return or exchange of pre-owned products from peers. Although these organizations have an exclusively transactional orientation, their channels vary from stores to transactional platforms, including mail/transportation. The type of revenue stream ranges from asset sale to brokerage fee while other streams are more marginal. The Salvation Army or Ikea, for example, mostly rely on asset sale, while eBay takes brokerage fees for each exchange conducted on the transactional platform. These business models are comprised within the larger sharing economy.
- Marketer-managed access system: such organizations create value by providing access to needed products through digital transactional platforms, stores or fixed touchpoints . This cluster can be labelled marketer-managed access system as it comprises organizations, which lend, rent or lease their assets without allowing peers to source products by themselves or exchange with each other. Popularly misquoted as sharing systems, these organizations clustering confirm that the sharing denomination is misleading. Subscription fees prevail, while lending/renting/leasing fees follow closely.
- Peer-to-peer access broker: In contrast to marketer-manager access systems, peer-to-peer access brokers consist of mostly digital transactional platforms allowing peers rather than organizations to source products, in mostly C2C exchange configurations. For example, Drivy or Turo are both peer-to-peer car rental platforms; Boatsetter is a C2C boat rental site; while peer-to-peer rental websites Sharetribe or Peerby stretch across a wider range of product categories. Corresponding revenue models are predominantly brokerage fee. These organizations position themselves as PLE champions since their PLE activities are core to their business model. These business models are comprised within the larger sharing economy.
- Consumer redistribution marketplace: similarly to secondhand vendor, these organizations focus on redistribution only. However, similarly to P2P access brokers, consumer redistribution marketplaces rely exclusively on peers for product sourcing. Exchange configurations involve most frequently peers only, but also B2C/C2B exchanges. Peers touchpoints or mail/transport channels prevail. Again, the web appears as a powerful enabler for peer-powered exchanges since both transactional and interactive channels are used. However, the website does not support online transaction. Actual transactions are conducted offline with peers. Although no specific revenue model seems to stand out in this cluster, it is worth noting that advertising revenues are at their highest level. These organizations refer simultaneously to peer-to-peer, sharing economy and second hand.
1) Group V: maintenance and recovery/asset sale and usage fee ;
2) Group W: Access, maintenance, redistribution and recovery/asset sale, asset renting, licensing, and usage fee ;
3) Group X: redistribution/asset sale. Since many peer-to-peer exchanges are involved, this group relates to the sharing economy;
4) Group Y: access schemes/asset renting, subscription fee ;
5) Group Z: access schemes/brokerage fee. Similarly to Group X, since many peer-to-peer exchanges are involved, this group relates to the sharing economy.