Overcoming the productivity challenge in product life-extending operations: a multiple-case study of European facilities

A promising path toward closed-loop supply chains is to extend the lives of products. Instead of discarding worn-out products, they can be restored to a functional condition through product life-extending operations. Organising such operations at scale requires purpose-built industrial facilities. However, it also brings its own set of unique, context-driven productivity challenges. This study explores how product life-extending operations can be designed for increased productivity. In a multiple-case study, we collect in-depth qualitative data from nine industry-leading European companies with extensive and longstanding product life-extending operations. First, we derive a generic framework for product life-extending operations that describes critical decisions during the operational process. Second, we discover that a key roadblock to productivity is the need to interact repeatedly with both the product and the customer during the life-extending process. We use this to develop a theoretical model of productivity in product life-extending operations. In a post-hoc test with five other firms, we check the validity and generalizability of the proposed conceptual and theoretical models. Our findings can support practitioners and policymakers in increasing the industrial adoption of product life-extending operations.