Stellantis took center stage at the MEMA “Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association” Sustainability Summit on August 15th in Troy Michigan, USA. As a keynote speaker at the conference titled ‘Sustainability: Competing in Today’s Environment’, Alison Jones, senior vice president, Global Circular Economy, outlined how Circular Economy plays a key role in the organization’s Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, supporting the ambitious target of leading the industry to achieving carbon net zero by 2038.
Specifically, in her presentation ‘SUSTAINera Circular Economy – our industrial and innovative scale up’, Jones highlighted how SUSTAINera, the dedicated label representing all the Company’s Circular Economy activities and launched in October 2022, is expanding its rigorous approach based on the 4R strategy – Reman, Repair, Reuse and Recycle – to support the Company’s carbon net zero targets, and at the same time bringing financial value to Stellantis and consequently to its suppliers, customers and stakeholders.
The SUSTAINera Circular Economy products and services provide savings of up to 80% of raw materials and 50% of non-emitted CO2 as compared to their equivalent new parts*. As a result, repairers and customers receive a sustainable and affordable solution, without compromising on quality while helping to preserve the environment through decreased waste, less use of our planet’s resources and reduced carbon footprint.
Remanufacturing (Reman) is a key strategy of the SUSTAINera Circular Economy business as it pursues the objective of extending product lifespan and provide a sustainable addition in the aftersales spare parts range.
SUSTAINera Reman parts provide the same performance and warranty conditions as new parts, and the current global range has more than 13,000-part numbers in 37 product lines including starters, alternators, clutches, turbochargers, injectors, brake calipers, electronic control modules, high-voltage battery packs, transmissions and engines.
For North America a key focus for the next two years is the expansion of the current supplier footprint, extending existing product lines and developing new products such as headlamps and tail-lamps, all with the aim of accelerating the remanufacturing portfolio coverage.
Core return management is of strategic importance for any Remanufacturing business, with a 95% return rate supporting long term sustainability and waste elimination. Investments have been made to optimize Stellantis Core Closed loop process through reverse logistics enhancements, driving sustainability by reducing transport CO2 emissions and improving customer service levels and time to market.
Currently Remanufacturing in North America makes up 72% of the Circular Economy business, with recycling and repair accounting for 28%. Worldwide SUSTAINera sales of remanufactured parts grew by 19% in 2022, on track to achieve the 2030 objective of more than €2 billion turnover quadrupling revenues derived from extending product lifespan and increasing revenues from recycling tenfold compared to 2021. In parallel, within the scope of results derived from extending product lifespan, the Reuse e-commerce business in Europe performed a 108% sales growth in 2022.
Stellantis will expand this offer into North America, opening the e-commerce Reuse channel in the US by the end of 2023. The B-Parts Reuse business provides an online customer solution offering original multi-brand reused parts to B2C and B2B customers.
As Jones highlighted ‘Stellantis continues to expand its customer offering, worldwide infrastructure and innovative thinking, both in-house and with suppliers. To achieve this, the Circular Economy team continues to search for proactive suppliers to expand and innovate the product range to offer a growing number of sustainable parts to customers and at the same time create new recycling opportunities for the development of a true closed-loop process. These are all paramount initiatives in our drive to achieve our Dare Forward 2030 ambitions.’
The Motor & Equipment Association held their Sustainability Summit on August 15, 2023. For more event information, see mema.org/sustainability.
