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The Procurement and Supply of hospital isolation gowns (IGs) pose significant challenges, including the potential for sudden increases in demand, the necessity of maintaining high-quality gowns, and the complexity of the supply process. One potential solution to these challenges is the investment in reusable IGs, which may seem financially infeasible due to their initial purchasing price. However, it can provide long-term financial and environmental benefits. In this research, a Simulation Optimization (SO) framework is utilized to model and analyze various product portfolio selection strategies, considering both financial and environmental perspectives, and to determine the optimal strategy for meeting both financial and environmental objectives. The proposed strategy is implemented to the problem based on obtained Life Cycle Assessment and market data.
We describe here the design and implementation of the Fashion Tech Farm (FTF), which aims to drive sustainable innovation in garments and fashion. We describe our goals, design principles, and the implementation. The design principles are rooted in an understanding of the fashion system, open networks, and entrepreneurial thinking. After four years of work on the FTF, we review three projects to evaluate how far the work has achieved the main goals and how our design principles are developing.
MULTIFILE
In this paper, I first discuss in some detail the current use of Learning Objects and show it to be wanting. Although their use, in principle, may offer much flexibility in creating content, in practice it will not, particularly since it does not support sufficient pedagogical flexibility. Then I offer an alternative view which, in my view, is indeed capable of fulfilling all the needs of customised learning, both the need for custom content and the need for custom pedagogies. I conclude by addressing some possible criticisms of my line of reasoning. This Chapter is a remake of Necessary Conditions for the Flexible Reuse of Educational Content.
The COVID19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerability in supply chain networks in the healthcare sector and the tremendous waste problem of disposable healthcare products, such as isolation gowns. Single-use disposable isolation gowns cause great ecological impact. Reusable gowns can potentially reduce climate impacts and improve the resilience of healthcare systems by ensuring a steady supply in times of high demand. However, scaling reusable, circular isolation gowns in healthcare organizations is not straightforward. It is impeded by economic barriers – such as servicing costs for each use – and logistic and hygiene barriers, as processes for transport, storage and safety need to be (re)designed. Healthcare professionals (e.g. purchasing managers) lack complete information about social, economic and ecological costs, the true cost of products, to make informed circular purchasing decisions. Additionally, the residual value of materials recovered from circular products is overlooked and should be factored into purchasing decisions. To facilitate the transition to circular procurement in healthcare, purchasing managers need more fine-grained, dynamic information on true costs. Our RAAK Publiek proposal (MODLI) addresses a problem that purchasing managers face – making purchasing decisions that factor in social, economic and ecological costs and future benefits from recovered materials. Building on an existing consortium that developed a reusable and recyclable isolation gown, we design and develop an open-source decision-support tool to inform circular procurement in healthcare organizations and simulate various purchasing options of non-circular and circular products, including products from circular cascades. Circular procurement is considered a key driver in the transition to a circular economy as it contributes to closing energy and material loops and minimizes negative impacts and waste throughout entire product lifecycles. MODLI aims to support circular procurement policies in healthcare organizations by providing dynamic information for circular procurement decision making.