Ingenious - Waste Managing System Andrew Lekahena
Priyanka Bambarkar
The Hague University of
Rochester Institute of Technology
Applied Science
Rochester, NY 14623, USA
2521 EN Den Haag, NL
priyankabambarkar@gmail.com
alclekahena@gmail.com Sarita Lavania Camila Ferreira
National Institute of Design
Pontifical Catholic University
Gujarat 382007, India
of Rio de Janeiro
ritu.lav98@gmail.com
Dezenove de Fevereiro, 62/803 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil camilaferrerira.dsg@gmail.com
Abstract This paper describes an organizational design process especially designed for the Engineering & Maintenance Department of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to collaboratively manage their plastic waste. It focuses on the ‘3R rule’ of sustainability: ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’. The process also includes use of technology to provide information and visibility on the waste materials they collect. Special training sessions and workshops are part of the process to encourage the employees to reduce the use of plastic. Further, KLM Scrap Plaza’s Providers sort out the plastic waste, which is tracked by sensors, within the unit. This data goes to an app that reads and provides information about what has been collected. Later, the managers can analyse and think on the best destiny for the waste: recycling or selling for reuse, enabling them to make strategic decisions. Author keywords Organizational Design; Research; KLM Royal Dutch Airlines; Plastic; Waste management; Recycle; Reuse; Reduce;
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ACM Classification Keywords H.5 Human-computer interaction Introduction Sustainability is a key strategy for KLM Airlines. According to Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes in September 2016, RobecoSam declared that Air France-KLM had retained its position at the top as the world’s most sustainable airline, for the 12th year in a row [1]. This declaration only manifests the fact that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is the most sustainable company in the aviation industry. They invest on biofuel, reuse of their
waste and recycling. Besides, they are socially responsible. One such example is KLM Aircares, an NGO organized by their employees to help poor communities in Africa. The present project studies and improves waste management capabilities of KLM Scrap Plaza, a unit inside Engineering & Maintenance Department at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. ‘Ingenious - A waste managing system’ provides a process that enables KLM Scrap plaza to track waste within the organization to gain insights and make sustainable decisions. This system also consists of technological components to improve the existing process which will encourage the stakeholders to collaboratively tackle current plastic waste management issues within the department. Thus, providing a channel for discussion of expansion, strategic decision-making and reverse supply chain for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines as and when necessary. Problem and Context KLM Scrap Plaza is a unit which handles waste management. It was founded in 2006 as a maintenance sector for the aeroplanes that flew via Amsterdam Schiphol airport. Their department offers maintenance services to KLM Airlines and other airlines too. Initially their focus was just to maintain the planes. The unit is responsible to store unused components and discard them when requested. In the past few years, the plastic waste coming out from maintenance of the components and wrapping of those components has been increasing. Currently, they have no sustainable way to deal with plastic. The unit’s employees were sorting the plastic waste by object and size, but this is not an established process by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines or the company who collects it together along with metal waste. As KLM is one of the most sustainable airlines in the world and they want to continue being the same, KLM Scrap Plaza wanted a solution to treat the plastic in a responsible way.
Method Literature review To develop the project, the team made use of different source of literature and information. The team used websites and digital documents to learn about plastic types and composites, videos about plastic sorting and recycling, and books in the subject of sustainability. One of the books that was used throughout the project was “Medialab Amsterdam – Design Process”. As part of the methodology, there were also meeting with specialists/experts to provide and assimilate information faster. Some members of the team participated in trainings concerning changing behaviour and sustainable strategies for a faster learning of the topics. Tools The project required the team to use both software and hardware tools for presenting and prototyping their concepts and ideas. Software such as Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, keynote, Arduino and MS Office were used. Hardware such as laser-cutter, 3D Printer and Arduino were used. Specialists In total, there were six specialists in diverse field of specialities such as Scream Specialist, Sustainable Business, Customer Experience, Sales in Circular Economy, Organizational Design and Service Design. It was beneficial to get their perspective because according to Max Planck “If you change the way you look at things, the things that you look at change” [2]. Their participation is going to be explained in “Sprinting, Researching and Prototyping” section. Medialab Design Method Toolkit The project was developed following MediaLAB Amsterdam’s methodology: Scream, which is a combination of Scrum and Design Thinking.
“The MediaLAB Amsterdam design process create and evaluate solutions in response to challenges. In the process MediaLAB intends to evoke real curiosity in order to make students feel highly motivated to find answers and solutions. This involves lots of iterations, making, prototyping, going out on field studies and test each idea, concept or prototype with actual users.” [3] The methodology in split in 3-week Sprints which each is composed by the following elements: • Planning • Research • Ideation • Translation Sessions • Prototyping • Sprint Review • Retrospective The Sprints start with a planning, where the team members define their research question, also called as Sprint Goal. To support or achieve this goal many subgoals are also defined. The idea is to achieve each subgoal step by step to accomplish the Sprint Goal. At the end of each sprint there is a Sprint Review with the client. Review is to showcase the work to the client and keep them updated on the progression of the project. During the sprints a team must go through translation session that is speaking to an expert related to that Sprint’s goal. After the Sprint review there is a session of Retrospection. This session is important, team looks back during this session and figures out the previous mistakes, to make sure that those mistakes are not repeated in the future sprints. Sprinting, Researching and Prototyping Sprint 1 The entire sprint 1 was spent in understanding the context, problems areas, defining problem statement and researching on various types of plastic. The research led us to ‘The SPI' (The Society of the Plastics Industry) and its code to identify different types of plastics according to the code number [5].
Figure 1: Different types of plastic and their classification
We understood that there are three different ways to improve sustainability in plastic waste: reduce its consumption, reuse of materials and recycling into a new plastic. Most of the businesses in this field focus on the latter, but it is not enough to solve the problem of plastic waste. Additionally, not all types of plastic are recyclable, some are better to be reused and other should have their consumption reduced. In order to understand how to include this perspective within the project matching the requirements of SCREAM methodology, we invited Tamara Pinos, a specialist in this topic. She works in MediaLAB Amsterdam at Hogeschool van Amsterdam as researcher and creative coach. She gave us some insights on how we could make use of plastic recycling information to build on top throughout the following sprints. As a delivery for the KLM Scrap Plaza, we introduced companies, start-ups and projects that are recycling plastic or reusing the waste creatively. The team also made use of Lego Serious Play to understand KLM Scrap Plaza’s expectations and how they see the problems they have in the unit. Sprint 2 “Ideally, employees should contribute to the prototyping of certain service moments and therefore have a clear vision of the concept” [4]. The second sprint was focused on understanding KLM Scrap Plaza’s context and to provide knowledge about
plastic. The specialist during this sprint was Helen Maynard-Hill, the founder of International Fundraising Consultancy. She helped us assimilating the information in a practical way to be shown to the clients. The employees of KLM Scrap Plaza were provided with handouts which consisted of easy methods to identify different types of plastic. As a starting point to visualize what kind of plastic the unit has, the team selected the 5 most voluminous waste to provide a sorting method for them. A layout was proposed to organize the outside storage space at KLM Scrap Plaza which the client agreed to follow and put into use immediately. Sprint 3 The aim of this sprint was giving possibilities of what to do with the plastic waste. Stakeholders map and waste journey map were created in this sprint. These maps were important to study the existing process, departments and employees involved at KLM Scrap plaza. It gave the team a full overview of the unit and helped understanding how they could design a new process for dealing with plastic waste.
One of the feedbacks from the previous sprint was that it was not clear what to do after the sorting of plastic waste. Therefore, the team organized brainstorming sessions to create possible reuses of the selected plastic objects. The main requirement was it should be something meaningful for KLM Airlines. The team decided to learn about customer experience design to polish the creations to become appealing for KLM’s passenger. In order to have a faster access to the topic, Camila Lima was invited for the Translation Session. She is an Experience Designer. She has a master’s degree in Interaction Design from Umeå University and worked at Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee designing the whole customer experience during the games. She gave a lot of insights on how to up-cycle the waste in Scrap Plaza in an appealing manner for KLM’s users. There were two outcomes from this sprint: creative ideas of up-cycling plastic waste in an appealing manner for KLM Airlines’ passengers and a process to send the waste to responsible destinations.
Figure 2: Stakeholders map
Figure 3: Waste Journey map with pain points (red points) and positive points (green points) Sprint 4 Together with KLM Scrap Plaza, the team understood that the main problem in the unit was the lack of a proper process for sending the plastic waste to the correct destination. Because of that, they decided it would be more promising to improve the process since it is more suitable for solving the problem. The team identified the unit does not have their own information on both plastic and metal waste. As a result, they decided to provide technological tools to track data about the waste.
The first iteration of Scapalyzing app and Smart bin was created during this sprint. The flow plastic was mapped within the KLM Scrap Plaza manifesting the fact that there was no tool to gather all the data related to the flow of plastic. The list of potential partners was made and improved. The team invited Simone Märtens, a specialist in Sales in Circular Economy, to help identifying recycling companies and creative business that could collect the plastic waste from KLM Scrap Plaza.
In the end of the sprint, the clients received the first iteration of process blueprint together with the list of possible partners. Sprint 5 During the fifth sprint the team refined all the steps within the process and developed the concept of an eshop to sell plastic goods for up-cycling. The team understood they were dealing with an organizational design project since they were proposing changes on the working process of the unit. Due to the lack of experience in the subject, Clarissa Biolchini was invited as an organizational design specialist. She holds an MBA degree in Marketing from COPPEAD/UFRJ and is Master candidate in Business Administration and Creative Leadership from Berlin School of Creative Leadership. She helped the team identifying possible milestones in the solution and how they could solve them. In the end, the final version of process blueprint with all the components such as Smart bins and Scapalyzing app was put together. Sprint 6 This was the final sprint and the entire process/system was fine-tuned step by step. All the components within the process were also updated. We named it “Ingenious – Waste managing system”. Figure 4: Circuit Diagram of the Smart Bin
To improve the project’s narrative and defence, Aline Alonso, master’s in Integrated design and Service Design specialist, helped the team align all the argumentations. The end-result of the project is explained in the following section. Result After the research and study related to the plastic, waste management and organizational design, we came up with the solution which is an organizational design
process that enables KLM Scrap Plaza to manage plastic waste within the department. “Operations management is concerned with the design, management, and improvement of the processes through which an organisation’s products and services are delivered” [4] Organisational Design process This is how “Ingenious – Waste managing system” works, The Providers (KLM Scrap Plaza’s plastic providers) will be equipped with Smart bins to sort the plastic waste within their unit before sending to KLM Scrap Plaza. These Smart bins will be dedicated as one bin per type of an object. Smart bins will signal Scrapalyzing app (the monitoring tool), when the bins are full. Scrapalyzing app will send notifications to Logistics department so that they arrange the transportation for the bins that are full, to be sent to the KLM Scrap Plaza. Monitoring tool will also send notifications for KLM Scrap Plaza informing about the arrival of the bins full of plastic waste. This will enable KLM Scrap Plaza to be prepared and reorganise their space if necessary. Smart bin This is a regular waste bin with a detachable sensor. The sensor will measure the volume of waste inside the bin. When the waste bin is in use, the sensor is attached to it converting it into a smart bin. The sensor is detached when the bin is full and is sent to KLM Scrap Plaza from one of its plastic providers. KLM Scrap Plaza’s Providers will sort the plastic waste into these smart bins. Each bin collects one type of waste object. When the bin is full, the sensor will signal the ‘Srapalyzing’ app, eventually notifying the stakeholders.
Figure 5: User interaction with the Smart bin
Scrapalyzing This is an app designed especially for KLM Scrap Plaza to collect, analyse and store data related to the flow of plastic waste. This app is also responsible for notifying the stakeholders about important steps of the flow of plastic waste and the various activities the stakeholders need to perform.
Figure 7: Scrap Shop
Figure 6: Scrapalyzing app
Figure 8: List of potential partners
Scrap Shop There are many plastic objects which can be upcycled or reused before recycled and this Scrap shop will enable KLM Scrap plaza to sell such plastic waste to the partners selected by them. The potential up-cyclers fill a form, submit it and get approved. There are 3 main categories in the E-shop such as Auction, Buy and Loot.
Partners for Down-cycling and Up-cycling All the waste that is brought to KLM Scrap Plaza, some of it is recyclable and some can still be reused. They need partners who can accept these two types of plastic to provide a sustainable destiny. Hence, to manage plastic waste in a responsible way we proposed KLM Scrap Plaza to partner up with different types of recycling companies and/or up-cycling startups. We made a list of potential partners with the necessary information which will enable KLM Scrap Plaza to make a strategic decision. The list included information such as companies, communities and start-ups, their contact information and the facilities they are ready to provide for KLM Scrap Plaza. The list also included the materials and processes these potential partners deal in their businesses.
Figure 9: Ingenious – Waste managing system
Figure: Ingenious Process 1. Providers of Scrap Plaza sorts plastic object considered as waste into smart bins. 2. The sensor sends the information to Scrapalyzing App, which notifies Scrap Plaza and Logistic Centre when there are full bins. 3. The provider remove the sensor from the bin and wait for the Logistic Centre. 4. Logistic Centre informs when they are going to collect the full bins. 5. Scrap Plaza receives the information of when new full bins are arriving and plan their week. 6. Logistic Centre brings full bins to Scrap Plaza. Employees receive. 7. Scrap Plaza’s employee confirm they have received it in Scrapalyzing App. 8. Scrap Plaza updates Scrap Shop with new products to be sold for reuse and contacts the recycling company partner to remove waste for recycling. 9. Engineering & Maintenance Manager selects new “KLM Upcyclers”, which are going to purchase items on Scrap Shop to be reused. 10. KLM Upcyclers and recycling company goes to Scrap Plaza to remove
Limitations Due to short period of the project there are many limitations to the solution offered. The team comprehends the existence of limitation to the solution. Because of the time constrain and difficult access to stakeholders outside Engineering and Maintenance Department in KLM and companies working with KLM Scrap Plaza, the team decided to focus on the unit’s providers and how their relationship could be improved. At the same time, both the KLM department and the team saw an opportunity to use MediaLAB Amsterdam’s approach of application of technology for improving user’s life as a horizon of new possibilities. That is the reason the process can take too long to be implemented. Conclusion Ingenious with its components successfully provides KLM Scrap Plaza with an efficient and strategic solution to send plastic waste for eco-responsible destinies. It makes use of the 3R’s from sustainability “reduce, reuse and recycle” since the system provides tools to reduce the consumption of plastic goods, a platform to sell what can still be reused and proper understanding of steps needed prior plastic recycling. The technology - Smart Bin and the Scrapalyzing App is adaptable. Engineering & Maintenance Department cannot only track the volume of specific plastic waste, but also apply to track metal waste. It is also possible to control the waste provided by airlines and reverse the supply-chain. The solution plays a role in the middle of the process giving an overview of both the production and the destiny of plastic waste. Consequently, managers have enough information to decide the most suitable action regarding sustainability.
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