Developing More Sustainable Products and Processes for Plastics Manufacturing

Our Client & Their Goals

Our Client, a major manufacturer of plastic products, planned to respond to the rapidly growing demand for sustainable products by increasing the sustainability of their own offerings. Such an effort can be a substantial undertaking, sometimes requiring that industrial manufacturers re-think their manufacturing processes from the ground-up. Even though our Client was familiar with the core concepts of sustainability, they lacked a current understanding of technologies—especially those still developing—that could achieve their goals. They also recognised that even after these technologies were identified, they would need expert assistance to evaluate which solutions would be best for them.

Our Client’s goal was to identify specific technologies that they could implement to quickly make their product lines and manufacturing processes more sustainable. They also wanted to determine which game-changing technologies might disrupt their industry over the long-term, and then to develop an effective strategy to respond to these disruptions. They intended to utilise more sustainable feedstocks, improve their material processing technology, and increase the recyclability of their products. Our Client was also planning to partner with key developers of game-changing technologies to co-develop new sustainable solutions in the near future.

CamIn's Solutions

We assembled a team of eight experts with diverse backgrounds across the chemical and industrial sectors, providing the range of expertise necessary to determine the best solutions for our Client. Each of our team members had a practical understanding of our Client’s specific industry segment, and quickly identified the key innovations that would help our Client achieve their goals.

Our feedstocks sub-team identified and benchmarked all approaches that were suitable for improving the sustainability of our Client’s manufacturing process and at either mid- or late-stage technology readiness levels.

Our recyclability sub-team investigated ways to adapt our Client’s formulae to make their final products more recyclable at the end of their life-cycle. In addition, we searched for opportunities to make the products bio-degradable without compromising their key functional properties.

Our alternatives for plastics sub-team assessed a wide range of materials—both bio-based and non-bio based—which may disrupt the plastics industry over the next five years.

Our project teams conducted detailed analyses of more than 100 approaches to improve the sustainability of our Client’s products and processes. They also benchmarked the performance of each solution against our Client’s current solutions and against each-other, providing our Client with a clear evaluation of each solution’s relative benefits.

Our work prepared our Client to quickly improve the sustainability of their product lines. They also entered into partnerships with the developers of the game-changing technologies to prepare substitutes for some of their products, avoiding disruption from competitors by disrupting themselves.

The Impact

We provided our client with a clear breakdown of opportunities they could exploit. We highlighted mature technologies that could be integrated as new solutions within a few years. We also identified game-changing technologies that could disrupt our Client’s products over the next half decade. 

Our work prepared our Client to quickly improve the sustainability of their product lines. They also entered into partnerships with the developers of the game-changing technologies to prepare substitutes for some of their products, avoiding disruption from competitors by disrupting themselves. Through these initiatives, our Client has positioned their company as a leader in their sector, embracing ambitious sustainability goals and providing products with green credentials to their customers.