{"id":213,"date":"2021-07-26T13:16:18","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T13:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/logistics-manufacturing\/?p=213"},"modified":"2021-07-26T13:16:20","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T13:16:20","slug":"digital-technologies-poison-and-medicine-for-remakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/logistics-manufacturing\/digital-technologies-poison-and-medicine-for-remakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Technologies \u2013 Poison and Medicine for ReMakers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the 18th<\/sup> century Dr William Withering discovered the medicinal properties of the digitalis plant: a tiny quantity of cardiac glycosides extracted from its leaves could be used to re-establish a normal heart rhythm in his patients, especially following a heart attack. \u00a0But it was later discovered that using more than 5 nanograms per ml of blood disables the cell-level sodium\/potassium ion pump and may lead swiftly to a patient\u2019s death.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 21st<\/sup> century, the useful lessons from Withering\u2019s medical work still resonate, but with a new audience: those businesses extending the working life of used products through remanufacture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New applications for digital technologies are discovered every day, and these improve and expand product functionality.  Yet companies specialized in remanufacturing products as diverse as rail locomotives and farm tractors, transmissions and home printers, report that they can no longer disassemble the product and restore it to as-new condition because they are denied access by those who own the relevant digital Intellectual Property.  It is as if a working product is given a fatal heart seizure.  A customer has no choice but to buy an entirely new product, thereby starting another round of mining, refining, casting, shipping, manufacturing, and sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u2018Right to Repair\u2019 movement around the world has been organized in protest at digital technologies being used to poison products by making them prematurely obsolete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the story does not end here.  \u201cSee a need, fill a need\u201d said Mr BigWeld in the wonderful animated movie Robots<\/em>.  Digital innovators are now turning their minds to filling the need identified by the global \u2018Right to Repair\u2019 movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3D Printing is a technology that is now being used to support remanufacturing. It is why I support the work of the ReMakerSpace at Cardiff University.  Instead of holding a warehouse full of expensive spare parts for years, 3D printers manufacture on demand at a far lower cost. Lower costs for 3D printed parts make remanufacturing more profitable.  It is just one of a host of digital technologies that is being applied to extend the life of used products rather than poison them.  Why not join in and find out more?  Or if not\u2026 at least watch that old Robots<\/em> movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Fitzsimons<\/em><\/strong> is the Director of the European Remanufacturing Council, a member of the World Economic Forum Manufacturing and Production Council and a member of the UKRI Strategic Advisory Panel for the Circular Economy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

www.remancouncil.eu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chemistry of Foxgloves<\/strong> https:\/\/www.compoundchem.com\/2016\/06\/21\/foxgloves\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

European Remanufacturing Network – Data<\/strong> www.remanufacturing.eu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

William Withering<\/strong>: https:\/\/library.uthscsa.edu\/2015\/01\/william-withering-and-the-beginnings-of-modern-therapeutics\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Fitzsimons, Director of the European Remanufacturing Council, shares his support for Cardiff University's RemakerSpace. ","protected":false},"author":1612,"featured_media":214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-additive-manufacturing","category-circular-economy"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/logistics-manufacturing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/logistics-manufacturing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/logistics-manufacturing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/logistics-manufacturing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1612"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/logistics-manufacturing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/logistics-manufacturing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/logistics-manufacturing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213\/revisions\/215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/logistics-manufacturing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/logistics-manufacturing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/logistics-manufacturing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/logistics-manufacturing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}