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As battery technologies become central to the global energy transition, optimizing their performance during first-life use is essential for maximizing value and enabling circular economy pathways. First-life electric vehicle (EV) battery operations—including deployment, usage, maintenance, and early-stage diagnostics—are increasingly influenced by advanced digital technologies, data management practices, and artificial intelligence (AI). Despite rapid technological advances, significant research and implementation gaps remain in integrating data-driven approaches and AI models into operational decision-making and lifecycle optimization. This paper addresses these challenges through an exploratory qualitative study, drawing insights from three expert workshops involving battery ecosystem actors. Our analysis identifies four key thematic areas: (1) battery lifecycle optimization, (2) risk and responsibility distribution, (3) data ownership and interoperability, and (4) AI deployment and cybersecurity. The findings highlight tensions between short-term operational cost-efficiency and long-term battery health, the fragmentation of risk management responsibilities, and growing concerns around data sovereignty and AI system integrity. Based on these insights, we propose a guiding framework for smarter first-life EV battery operations, structured around four pillars and supported by four cross-cutting enablers. This study contributes to the emerging discourse on battery circularity by advancing the understanding of strategies for smarter first-life battery operations.

The transition towards sustainable electrification, particularly in the context of electric vehicles (EVs), necessitates a comprehensive understanding and effective management of battery circularity. With a plethora of EV models and battery variants, navigating the complexities of circularity becomes increasingly challenging. Furthermore, efficient fleet management emphasizes the necessity for robust data collection and analysis across diverse EVs to optimize battery value throughout its lifecycle. Advanced digital technologies play a crucial role in bridging informational gaps and enabling real-time connectivity, intelligence, and analytical capabilities for batteries. However, despite the potential benefits, the integration of circularity and digital technologies in the battery sector remains largely unexplored. Both circularity and digital technologies in the battery domain are still emerging, lacking conceptualization on their integration. To tackle these challenges, this paper advocates for the concept of smart battery circularity, which amalgamates advanced digital technologies with circular economy principles. The purpose of this paper is to enhance the conceptualization of smart battery circularity and elucidate the key knowledge areas necessary to facilitate it. The study identifies three critical knowledge areas essential for enabling smart battery circularity: digitally enabled circular business models, digital twin platforms for circular battery services, and smart battery performance monitoring. The sub-areas within each key knowledge area are also outlined. By delineating these knowledge areas, the study proposes an integrative framework, showcasing how these areas contribute to smart battery circularity both individually and collectively. The study offers insights to accelerate the development of initiatives aimed at establishing a sustainable and circular battery ecosystem, thereby advancing global efforts towards climate-neutral electrification. 

Purpose: The research purpose is to analyse when and how innovation support programmes (ISPs) can affect collaboration between universities and established small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The paper specifically considers SME’s absorptive capacity. Design/methodology/approach: A Swedish research centre is studied in the context of innovation support and two of its SME-ISPs are examined with regards to industry–university collaboration and impact on firm innovation capabilities. Data collection and analysis are performed, using interviews, survey answers, document search and reflectional analysis to evaluate processes and effects of the centre and the programmes. Findings: A developed research centre, integrated into both academia and industry, can support translational collaboration and promote SME innovation absorptive capacity. The action learning elements and the organisational development approaches used when coaching in the ISPs contribute to the SMEs internal absorption capacity and collaborational skills. Organising collaboration into ISPs can provide a relational path to future collaboration with universities, which, for example start with student projects. Research limitations/implications: The study, though limited to one Swedish region, adds to empirical innovation research as it connects industry–university collaboration and absorptive capacity to organisational learning. Practical implications: The empirical results indicate possible long-term gains for industry and universities in building collaborative innovation into SME-ISPs. Originality/value: The contribution of this study pertains to the practice of innovation support for established SMEs with the inclusion of absorption capacity and collaborative innovation development.

To achieve sustainable development goals, it is essential to include the industrial system. There are sufficient numbers of tools and methods for measuring, assessing and improving the quality, productivity and efficiency of production, but the number of tools and methods for environmental initiatives on the shop floor is rather low. Incorporating environmental considerations into production and performance management systems still generally involves a top-down approach aggregated for an entire manufacturing plant. Green lean studies have been attempting to fill this gap to some extent, but the lack of detailed methodologies and practical tools for environmental manufacturing improvement on the shop floor is still evident. This paper reports on the application of four environmental assessment tools commonly used among Swedish manufacturing companies—Green Performance Map (GPM), Environmental Value Stream Mapping (EVSM), Waste Flow Mapping (WFM), and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)—to help practitioners and scholars to understand the different features of each tool, so in turn the right tool(s) can be selected according to particular questions and the industrial settings. Because there are some overlap and differences between the tools and a given tool may be more appropriate to a situation depending on the question posed, a combination of tools is suggested to embrace different types of data collection and analysis to include different environmental impacts for better prioritization and decision-making.

Many organisations use daily meetings, whiteboards and an information system for employee intra-communication. While Operation Management research is often management centred, Human Centred Design, instead, takes a user’s perspective. This research aims to reflect upon and describe a method, applied in practice in a double case study within manufacturing, on how to (re-)design meetings and visual management boards, and what type of information and key performance indicators are most relevant for the personnel. The paper proposes a lean Kata-improvement inspired design method, which takes the personnel’s perspective on design of daily visual management.

When a change request is raised in an engineering project an ad hoc team often forms to manage the request. Prior research shows that practitioners often view engineering changes in a risk-averse manner. As a project progresses the cost of changes increases. Therefore, avoiding changes is reasonable. However, a risk-averse perspective fails to recognize that changes might harbor discoverable and exploitable opportunities. In this research, we investigated how practitioners of ad hoc teams used practices and praxes aimed at discovering and exploiting opportunities in engineering change requests. A single case study design was employed using change request records and practitioner interviews from an engineering project. 87 engineering change requests were analyzed with regards to change triggers, time-to-decision and rejection rate. In total, 25 opportunities were discovered and then 17 exploited. Three practices and six praxes were identified, used by practitioners to discover and exploit opportunities. Our findings emphasize the importance of the informal structure of ad hoc teams, to aid in opportunity discovery. The informal structure enables cross-hierarchal discussions and draws on the proven experience of the team members. Thus, this research guides project managers and presumptive ad hoc teams in turning engineering changes into successful opportunities.

Virtually every company has implemented a Business Performance Measurement System (BPMS) with the purpose of monitoring production and business performance and to execute the corporate strategy at all levels in a company. The purpose of this article is to shed light on common pitfalls related to the practical use of BPMS and further to present a life cycle model with the purpose of introducing structured approach to avoiding the pitfalls. The article contributes to further development of the BPMS life cycle concept and practical examples of how it can be used.

Manual “easy jobs” need to be efficient, standardised and quality assured to remain competitive against automated production. Digitalised work instructions offer an opportunity to support standardisation and quality assurance for manual work tasks in industry. Inspired by axiomatic design this study aims at selecting design of lean methods and equipment for digital assembly instructions and standardised work. Literature regarding standardised work and green lean production system is applied in a case study. Interviews, observations and green lean equipment design methods are used to conclude system requirements of a digital work instruction-system designed for assembly of modular buildings at Husmuttern AB.