Conference Agenda

Oil production must decline substantially over the coming decades to stay within climate-safe limits. Current oil company business models are not prepared for the production decline required by climate-safe pathways. The two opposing facts create a dissonance and inhibit oil company business strategy from entering the opportunity space. The opportunity space is where the possible becomes the profitable within the constraints of what is feasible and socially acceptable. Transition Engineering is a transdisciplinary engineering approach that applies systems thinking, risk management, and systems engineering to resolve wicked problems of the energy transition. This article applies transition engineering to the wicked problem of the future business of oil companies. A workshop series was conducted with oil industry experts from engineering, finance, and business backgrounds. The result was the realisation of an opportunity space which dispelled the dissonance surrounding the wicked problem. Transition Engineering tools shifted participants’ focus from the dissonance surrounding the wicked problem to the exploration of the opportunity space. Another result is contributions to the use of Transition Engineering tools in complex upstream energy industry scenarios. Future work will enter the opportunity space and design business model options and strategies.

The manufacturing industry plays a crucial role in addressing sustainability challenges by integrating eco-friendly practices into product design. Employing a system thinking methodology, this research comprehensively considers the interconnected components of a product, entities involved, and their interactions. The study focuses on developing a corporate sustainability tool for the entire supply chain, leveraging Digital Twin (DT), Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR) to facilitate eco-design. Benchmarking existing monitoring systems and case studies in sustainable product design allows to identify gaps and opportunities, establishing guidelines for integrating digital technologies. The aim of this paper is to design a corporate sustainability tool based on a digital product model enriched with specific product and process information. Within the industrial context, the designer or engineer can implement the proposed tool to ensure the development of eco-compatible products (Green Design), considering not only environmental impact, but also social change. This tool supports companies to evaluate environmental, social and governance data, make strategic sustainability decisions, and create useful company dashboards that facilitate the visualization and analysis of this data. The creation of a Digital Product Passport (DPP) will offer valuable information on the sustainability aspects of the product, benefiting end users who utilize the product. Conducted within a co-financed Ph.D. program with an Italian industrial machinery manufacturer, the research addresses challenges in academia-industry collaboration, enhancing the practical application of designed systems. The findings have significant implications for the manufacturing industry, contributing to sustainable product design practices and establishing a standardized framework for assessing and communicating product sustainability.

To achieve relevant research results, collaborative research is deemed essential in several engineering and management disciplines. When the addressed research questions are associated with larger societal challenges the need for collaboration between various actors and disciplines becomes even more urgent. In this paper, the development of a transdisciplinary research initiative aiming at supporting long-term ability for the manufacturing industry to succeed with the green transition, is described. The transdisciplinary research programme ´GRACE - Green acceleration through integrated and platform-enabled product realisation´ is an eight-year project (4+4 years), involving eleven manufacturing industries and four industrial networks. The research programme GRACE is the result of a close collaboration between industrial partners and academic researcher for almost one year. We have through workshops and various meetings jointly formulated a research agenda, based on eight research issues: (1) requirement specification and management, (2) platform principles and lifecycle strategies on different system levels, (3,4) product design and production solutions supporting circular strategies, (5,6) product and production information management, (7) shared understanding and visions, and (8) knowledge integration, operationalisation and implementation. Based on these research issues, and the priorities among the industrial partners, three initial research projects have been developed. The development of the research programme applied a co-production process, including a distinct pre-project phase. The creation of the transdisciplinary programme GRACE required trust among the involved partners, an open atmosphere, structure, joint understanding among the participants, time to read and think, and some stubbornness.

Intensified competition, heightened customer demands, and mounting pressure for cost savings and carbon footprint reduction characterise the dynamic landscape of contemporary business. Thus, the efficiency of distribution channels plays a pivotal role in meeting the evolving needs of diverse stakeholders. Management's concern for the seamless flow of products to customers is underscored by imperatives to lower costs, enhance customer satisfaction, adhere to policies and regulations, and sustain personnel wellbeing and motivation. Operational research initiatives such as the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) have partially addressed these challenges. However, a comprehensive solution must transcend mathematical optimisation techniques to incorporate the intricate interplay between human resources, sales, customer service, and logistics. Going beyond traditional quantitative solutions, the contribution of this research is twofold: 1) a transdisciplinary framework designed to address the optimisation of distribution channels holistically by recognising the importance of negotiation among key stakeholders. Thus, the VRP solution, while indispensable, serves as a facilitative tool for negotiation, and 2) an industrial case is included to illustrate the application of the transdisciplinary framework, offering practical insights and managerial recommendations for implementing optimised routing strategies for the benefit of stakeholders. This research promotes social change by fostering a collaborative environment beyond mathematical efficiency by integrating the human element into the decision-making process.