The Role of Smart Technology in North American Business Innovation

Product lifetime extension (PLE) is a crucial aspect of the circular economy, as it promotes "circular products that go round" [1], "augmented products" [4], or "circular products" [5] and [6]. Reduced product lifespan leads to increased material and energy flows, as well as waste [7]. Conversely, PLE reduces material flows and waste. Taking a "Long View" [8] on products can help promote the circular economy by increasing the productivity of existing resources, including inputs (pieces, components, machinery, equipment) and outputs (end products delivered to clients).

Despite claims that Industry contributes to sustainability

little research has been conducted on how technology improvements of the fourth industrial revolution contribute to PLE. Empirical research on the relationship between technology 4.0 and PLE is vital to the literature, as present research is either conceptual and lacks empirical evidence [3] or focuses on certain industries or situations [13]. For example, [14] investigated smart product-service systems in the healthcare business. Previous studies have examined the relationship between sustainability and specific technologies, such as large-scale data analytics [15] or 3D printing [16, 17]. Others have explored the synergies between I4.0 and circular economy [18], I4.0 and sustainability [19], I4.0 and environmental management [20], or sustainable digital transformation [21]. As a result, the research does not adequately address the application to PLE. I4.0 technologies are seen as crucial for progress and sustainability in various countries, including Japan's "Super Smart Society/Society 5.0" [22] and Europe's research and innovation plans [11, 12].

This research focuses on four I4.0 technologies: additive manufacturing, big data analytics, IoT, and AI, which have already been conceptually studied in relation to PLE (refer to 3 and 4 for a review). The goal is to empirically examine how smart technologies benefit organizational users to enable PLE and the circular economy. This study uses previous studies to classify PLE business models (PLEBM) and identifies three core strategies for PLE: improved product design, maintenance, and recovery. It also demonstrates how I4.0 technologies can contribute to these strategies to extend product lifetimes. Hence, the entire study objective is:

ORO) To explore the mechanisms that underpin Industry 4.0 technologies' contribution to PLE.

The precise purpose of this research is:

SRO) To investigate how Industry 4.0's four fundamental technologies (additive manufacturing, big data analytics, IoT, and AI) help to extend product lifetimes through enhanced product design, maintenance, and recovery techniques.

More officially, the project aims to answer the following research questions:

To what extent do Industry 4.0 technologies enhance the life of manufactured goods

RQ2) What is the mechanism behind industry 4.0 technologies assisting organizational users in extending the life of the physical commodities they manufacture?

This study uses qualitative field research in Quebec, Canada, where the government is undertaking a digital transformation roadmap called the Digital Economy Action Plan [27]. A total of 20 semi-structured interviews were performed with managers from Quebec manufacturing enterprises who use I4.0 technology in their operations. The emerging themes from the qualitative analysis answer the two research questions and fulfill the research objectives by suggesting that I4.0 technologies contribute to PLE through four features: (1) empowerment and acceleration of R&D (improvement of prototypes, prototype validation), (2) smarter production (tooling assistance, manufacturing assistance), (3) automation of managerial and operational processes (management automation, production automation), and (4)

These key findings provide significant theoretical and practical contributions. This study addresses the need for empirical research in business [3] and engineering [28] to better understand the impact of I4.0 on sustainability through PLE. For the first time, this study presents an empirical and detailed assessment of how various smart technologies contribute to certain PLE tactics. It informs scholars and managers alike on the primary benefits of these technologies. This study adds to existing research on the relationship between I4.0 technologies and PLE (e.g., [13]) by investigating the topic of (semi-)durable goods production in general, rather than a specific sector or industry. The study focuses on core I4.0 technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Additive Manufacturing, and Artificial Intelligence, rather than specific technologies like large-scale data analytics or 3D printing [15, 17, 29]. Although the study focuses on PLE, it also adds to the circular economy, I4.0's impact on sustainability, and the triple bottom line [18, 19-30]. Before investing in smart technologies, managers, in particular, benefit from an overview of the significant gains that they may offer. Interestingly, the technology contributes not only to sustainability through PLE, but also to desirable economic and managerial results through optimization and decision support. Previous research has shown rising synergies between sustainability and optimization [e.g., [31, 32]]. This study demonstrates more exactly how these synergies occur at the manufacturing level, extending product longevity.

The rest of the article is organized as follows: The following section explains the theoretical framework of the product lifetime extension business model (PLEBM), which includes the PLE strategies investigated in this study. Section 3 provides a detailed description of the study's procedures. Section 4 gives analysis results, and Section 5 discusses the study's implications for theory and practice.

theoretical framework.

Strategies for extending the product lifetime

Product lifespan (PL) is defined as "the duration of the period that starts at the moment a product is released for use after manufacture and ends at the moment a product becomes obsolete beyond recovery at product level" [1], p. 519. Van Nes and Cramer [33] define product lifespan extension (PLE) as methods for extending its duration. PLE does not include end-of-life (EOL) treatments like recycling [1], destruction for reuse, composting, or biodegradation. Managers use product lifetime extension business models (PLEBM) to improve product design (nature strategies) or increase product lifespan during post-production (nurture strategies) [1–26]. In PLEBM research, five broad PLE actions are identified [24, 25]. These include improving product design, production processes, and repairability [[26], p. 3].

(2) Access refers to the use-oriented "service scape," which includes leasing, renting, mutualizing, and pooling products to temporarily transfer them from one individual to another [[26], p. 3]. It also references Stahel's [34] concept of performance economics.

(3) Maintenance is a product-oriented "service scape" that includes maintenance, advising, training, and advisory contracts [26], p. 3.

(4) Redistribution refers to the movement of products from one person to another through activities like donations, trading, and second-hand purchases [[26], p. 3].

(5) Recovery involves restoring a product to its original working state by repair, remanufacturing, refurbishment, repackaging, or reconditioning [[26], p. 3].

These five ideas are different ways to extend product life for better circularity and sustainability. However, access and redistribution techniques are less relevant in this study because they entail the exchange of finished goods between peers or from enterprises to consumers. In contrast, the focus of this study is restricted to the examination of PLE techniques at the production level within businesses. As a result, we will investigate how I4.0 tactics help to improve product design, maintenance, and recovery.