The Utilization-focused
Service Economy: Resource
Efficiency and Product-life
Extension
by Walter R. Stahel
Summary: Asa S. Angeles
Critique: Anton Clarkson
The Main Idea
The reuse of goods is economically and
ecologically superior to the recycling of
materials.
 Although feasible, a change to
utilization-focused economies requires a
change in corporate and governmental
mind-set.

Waste-reduction and
Resource-saving Strategies

Reuse
– Slowdown of material flow from production to
recycling or disposal
– Waste prevention
– Reduced environmental effects from transport

Recycling
– Does not affect speed of material flow through
economy
Closed-loop Strategies
Reuse
Recycling
Self-replenishing System
Reuse vs. Recycling
Economic Incentive (?)
The smaller the loop, the more
profitable it is.
 In a free market, the ‘invisible hand’
would guide manufacturers toward
reuse.
 Instead, they focus on recycling.
 Will extending life of goods cause the
economy to break down?

Labor and Energy Input for
Production and Maintenance
Quality Defined As Optimization of System Functioning
Over Long Periods of Time
How Selling Products Affects Liability
How Selling Utilization Affects Liability
How Selling Products Affects
Design and Waste Reduction Strategies
How Selling Utilization Affects
Design and Waste Reduction Strategies
Broadening ‘Reuse’ to
‘Optimizing Use’

New strategies:
– Long-life goods
– Product-life extensions of goods
– Product-life extensions of components
– Commercial waste prevention strategies
– Multifunctional products
Key Issues Governing
Optimizing Use






“Prevention” engineering
Adaptable system design
Fault-tolerant and self-protecting system
design
Standardization
Immediate evaluation of system parameters
High-degree of training and access to
expertise
System Quality
A successful system is harder to
compete against than a successful
product
 Examples

–
–
–
–
Lighthouses and Guidance Systems
Aircraft Tractors
Carpool lanes
All-in-one products
Critique

Article Mechanics

Radical social changes required for Stahel’s
“reuse economy”

Engineering practices
Claims

Stahel makes many claims but backs up few
– “One important difference is that the smaller
loop, the more profitable it is(Table 1)”

One would expect table one to support this
claim
Table 1
Stahel: Differences between reusing and recycling
Data Presented

Article published 1994

The only data presented is dated 1976, 18
years prior to publication

The data used to back Stahel’s claim is not
even real, and to complicate is presented in
non-intuitive metric
Table 2
Stahel: Product Life Extension
Lack of Outside Sources

Stahel fails to present any data, thoughts, or
corroborating evidence from anyone but
himself
Stahel: Cited references
Stahel’s main point

In order to enter into a reuse economy Stahel
requires a change in these “basic economic
concepts”
– A change in the notion of economic value from “exchange value”
to “utilization value”
– A change in the notion of risk from entrepreneurial to pure risk
– A different attitude toward ownership where the status of
utilization becomes dominant over that of property
– A change in the function of the point of sale from a one-time pointof-no-return in the transfer of liability and full ownership to a point
of service that includes periodic negotiation
Stahel’s main point cont

Stahel’s proposed “reuse economy” does not
follow the idea of the brain doesn’t change so
technology must

Stahel’s plan requires vast socioeconomic changes
that go against the grain of present day society

To justify the necessity of these changes Stahel
provides no evidence but his own commentary
Engineering Practices

Stahel does provide a list of many good
engineering practices which should become
common practice

These are located on page 188

This list is the true value of Stahel’s article
Conclusion

Article Poorly written
 Stahel does not justify claims nor present
substantiating data
 Expects reader to accept his principles
which he does not prove or refer to proof
 Expects too much from society
Questions/Discussion