The Growth of the Repair Industry
Over the last week, I have been immersed in discovering the repair industry. This interest has been generated as I develop my third course as part of The Essential Skills Program. The lack of funds that have held back launching the Circular Skills platform is slowing coming to an end. Meanwhile, back to repair.
The third course is being created using a set of cards called the Circularity Deck, developed by Dr. Jan Konietzko , as part of his research at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. With these cards, Konietzko wants to make circular and sustainable business intuitive and accessible, “…the Circularity Deck: a card deck-based tool that can help firms to analyze, ideate and develop the circularity potential of their innovation ecosystems…”
A large number of cards are dedicated to product-life extension, or the Circular Rs , which frequently feature repair. Konietzko writes in his research paper ‘A Tool to Analyze, Ideate and Develop Circular Innovation Ecosystems’, “Firms can innovate towards a circular economy through five interrelated strategies. They can narrow, slow, close, regenerate and inform product, component, material and energy flows.”
Although, in general, I follow Konietzko’s script, I am steering off course slightly as I format the modules to meet a specific criteria — skills training. With this in mind, I decided to dedicate three lessons in the ‘Longer Use’ module or ‘Slow’ (a term Konietzko prefers to use), just to repair. For the record, “Slowing refers to using products, components and materials longer. A product principle for slowing is ‘design for physical durability’. A product is physically more durable if its performance over time degrades more slowly than comparable products on the market.”
It is not enough to manufacture repairable or durable products. It has to fit into a whole eco-system that enables resource management as the foundation for the circular economy. There has to be a skilled workforce that makes up the repair industry to fix repairable products.
Herein lies the business opportunities for existing businesses and entrepreneurs. The decision to set up a repair business includes writing a business plan based on research on market size, competition, gaps in the market, financial viability, etc. As repair is a service there are other points to consider.
Macro-Economic Forecasts for Repair and Installation Services
Here is what I discovered about the future of repair. The two statistics below come from Statista, and due to space limitations, I have not included several additional statistical indicators provided in their analysis. Although it does not explicitly say so, Statista states their forecasting techniques are based on the behaviour of the relevant market, which I assume comes from the growth of the manufacturing industry.
Here is what Statista write, “The manufacturing market has faced several challenges in recent years due to geopolitical uncertainty, supply chain disruptions, changing consumer preferences, and increasing regulatory scrutiny. However, several positive factors, such as rising global demand, ongoing technological advancements, and increasing investment in automation and digitalization, continue to influence the market, and the outlook for manufacturing remains positive.” Therefore, one could assume, that if manufacturing remains positive, so does the repair, installation and maintenance service sectors.
Consumer Acceptance for Repair
The choice to repair-or-not does not constitute a one-time decision, but rather an iterative sequence of decisions and actions, which are reliant upon the participation of the individual.
Product repair plays an important role in the realisation of a circular economy and sustainable consumption, yet little is known about what repair entails for individual product owners or users, particularly in a realised circular economy. The choice to repair-or-not does not constitute a one-time decision, but rather an iterative sequence of decisions and actions, which are reliant upon the participation of the individual. The process of repair that an individual goes through has been conceptualised in the diagram below.
The individual’s experience of the repair process is made up of the conditions they experience, such as access to so-called necessities (i.e. spare parts, repair information, and tools). The experience is equally made up of internal factors, such as values, which impact how individuals interpret their situation and the choices available to them.
In the conceptualisation of the repair process, three themes of the repair experience emerge: (1) interpreting brokenness, (2) engaging in repair, and (3) using the repaired device.
Initiatives such as Right-to-Repair regulations, tax reductions of repair services and a policy mix are not enough. Repair business operators or entrepreneurs need to assess how consumer acceptance contributes to the entire repair cycle to ensure positive impacts, avoid unintended consequences, and that no gaps exist that can slow down or hinder the upscale process.
Industrial Repair
The lessons I create are short and easy to digest. They are designed to give learners an in-depth snapshot of all the points and principles outlined in each lesson and module. The three lessons on repair cover each of the topics in this article. The aim is not to promote the circular economy, but instead to encourage existing businesses and entrepreneurs to take up the growing opportunities the circular economy presents.
Existing businesses may find additional revenue opportunities in providing a repair service or team up with a 3rd party to increase the value proposition of their products. The key to unlocking the hidden value in an existing business is to understand the overall capacity of the company, including available equipment and labour hours, as well as the cost structure and the variability of that cost structure. It also requires the CEO or senior management to shift their mindset to a value-added revenue model.
In an era where industrial efficiency has become the linchpin of success, the Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) KPI has emerged as a vital benchmark, reflecting a global trend toward predictive maintenance and data-driven decision-making. With the recent rise in automation and AI-driven analytics, MTTR has transformed from a simple measure into a strategic tool for cutting-edge manufacturing processes.
The MTTR is one of the most critical KPIs used in various industries to measure the efficiency of maintenance processes. This metric provides insights into how quickly an organization can respond to and repair equipment failures, thereby minimizing downtime and maximising productivity.
Conclusion
In a recent interview with an Australian TV journalist, the US economist Joseph Stiglitz recommended “ …it would be good for Australia to move away from resources (extractive industries) and have a more knowledge and service-based economy…” This recommendation may very well apply to many developed countries. The repair industry, both for consumers and industry fits nicely into a knowledge-based sustainable and circular economic service model.
The one topic this article has not promoted is the circular economy. As a new economic model to manage resources and resource efficiency, many more companies and entrepreneurs will embrace repair as a standard activity of the products they sell and keep in use. Accredited skills training for repairers will go hand-in-hand with consumer confidence for SMEs delivering repair services. The Right-to-Repair regulations can only go so far in establishing a robust repair industry for a circular society.
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Ms Adrienna Zsakay is the Founder and CEO of Circular Economy Asia Inc, and this article represents her opinions on the circular economy. Circular Economy Pick of the Week is brought to you by Circular World™ Media — a brand owned by Circular Economy Asia Inc.
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References
‘Repair and Installation Services — Worldwide’, published by Statista
‘A Tool to Analyze, Ideate and Develop Circular Innovation Ecosystems’ by Jan Konietzko, Nancy Bocken and Erik Jan Hultink, published in Sustainability, 05 January 2020.
‘Repair & Installation Services — Worldwide’ published by Statista, date unknown.
‘A matter of timing: system requirements for repair and their temporal dimensions.’ by Russell JD, Svensson-Hoglund S, Richter JL, Dalhammar C, Milios L, published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2022.
‘A Process Approach to Product Repair from the Perspective of the Individual’ by Sahra Svensson-Hoglund, Jennifer D. Russell & Jessika Luth Richter, published by Circular Economy and Sustainability, 28 November 2022.
‘Mean Time to Repair (MTTR): A Vital KPI for Operational Efficiency’, published by www.Profit.co, date unknown.
‘Why Gross Margin Doesn’t Matter for Manufacturers’ published by CLA Connect, 14 August 2018.
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
