Your strengths with regard to ReX initiatives | Road to ReX - part 4

Identify and capitalise on your existing strengths

Every organisation has strengths that make ReX possible. These are often closely related to your daily operations: assembly usually also means being able to disassemble; people who are good at cleaning can clean more. A strong quality system is just as effective for reassembly. By systematically exploring these strengths, you can identify achievable ReX opportunities that will generate both value and employment.

Making your strengths visible

Why this exercise is worthwhile

• You will more quickly be able to find projects and customers more quickly that align with your ReX activities
• You’ll gain trust, as ReX will be seen as closer to your current operations
• You’ll identify new activities that are both desirable and feasible

Tip: do steps 1 and 2 as a team. This will lend weight to insights, get people energised and accelerate decision-making.
 

Step 1: discover the nine ReX roles

ReX requires numerous concrete actions: dismantling at the customer’s premises, collection and transport, determining residual value and assessing status. Then there are the activities needed to make the product resellable: cleaning, disassembly, repair, reassembly, testing, packaging. Finally, supporting tasks are required, such as assembling repair kits, recording and labelling, updating digital information, reprocessing waste streams and organising sales channels.

Group these activities into nine typical roles. Divide these into three clusters:

1. Roles that focus on products and components
2. Roles that focus on components and material flows
3. Roles that impact data and digitisation

Discuss the roles one by one with the team. This will help you to discover familiar elements and construct a common language.

Step 2: establish the link with projects and customers

Walk around the workplace with these roles in mind. Ask yourself two questions:

• What are we already doing that fits with this role?
• For which recent or ongoing projects and customers is this role meaningful?

Tools such as moulds, visual boards, picking and packaging, storage and quality or data technology often directly support ReX roles.

In many cases, you can make use of what you already have.
 

Step 3: choose and take action

List all opportunities. Involve intrapreneurs and key people with an external perspective. To start with, go for opportunities with low uncertainty and high potential returns, such as extra employment. If there are none of these, choose low-uncertainty opportunities with lower returns. You want to make visible progress quickly. Small projects teach lessons that can then be applied to bigger opportunities.
 

Tips & tricks

Use the template to spot opportunities and link actions:

• Focus on projects, products and customers with which you are familiar
• Briefly describe the lifetime-extending activity
• Note what you can do to reduce uncertainty or increase revenue
   

Discover the ReX roles for sheltered workplaces
 

Conclusion

Identify your roles, choose accessible opportunities and make them visible. Create a firm basis for what works and use the template to take targeted action. In this way, ReX will grow from isolated ideas into a stable part of your operation.
 

Living Lab Circular Economy Remanumaat (VNS.2023.0113) with financial support from VLAIO.