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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CAR-E (Creative Automotive Reuse E-commerce)

Teaser

Summary

CAR-E is an exchange platform between automobile wrecking yards and final users (mechanics and private clients) that optimizes the reuse of car parts and at the same time discourages their underground, elicit trade. It allows tracing the whole process of buying and selling used car parts, guaranteeing a valid alternative to the use of non-original car parts and making it easier to intercept fake parts.
CAR-E will operate on the used car parts market, which worldwide is second only to the construction industry in terms of waste production. In the last 15 years the used car parts market has grown by 156,4% in Europe (with an increase from 78 to 200 billion Euros).
To date provisioning for drivers who want to repair their car with used pieces is complex and mainly based on local resources: there are no large-scale platforms to both find and deliver parts across the whole country.

For the trade category (scrapyard) CAR-E introduces innovative and standardisation instruments for a rather outdated category at European level: the streamlining of disassembly processes is forced, as well as the resulting increase in efficiency for the scrapyard, as the standardisation of the process to introduce pieces on the platform is a process designed to guarantee the quality of the products sold. The adopted effectiveness of the process is also monitored and validated by the statistics generated by the platform itself.

On a wider scale, CAR-E will indirectly produce a positive impact on the environment, thanks to the recycling of tons of raw material, that would otherwise be destined to be demolished into trash; in this way it will support a circular form of economy. From an environmental standpoint, the project will potentially contribute with the reduction by 80% of CO2 production thanks to the reintroduction of used spare parts on the market.

The feasibility study revealed the great potential of the project in terms of its impact on the system, both at an economic and social and environmental level, as well as the high economic potential guaranteed for the platform and target customers. This is why Giunko intends to carry forward the idea through the implementation of the platform, by enhancing the company structure until it reaches the go-to market point.

Work performed

Giunko has analized the specific domain issues necessary for the realization of the CAR-E platform, with particular emphasis on wrecking yards operative flow, acquisition, and spare parts management.
Actions aimed at verifying market feasibility, involvement of business partners and final users were carried on in collaboration with the Italian trade associations, particularly FER.
Interviews, focus groups, operational work groups involving the main trade associations aimed at calibrating the e-commerce platform were conducted with Automobile wrecking yard industry representatives.
Interviews and questionnaires were carried out with target customers (mechanics and drivers) aimed at measuring their perception regarding the use of recycled spare parts and buying behaviors.

Giunko performed actions aimed at verifying technical feasibility : technical analysis of wrecking yard work processes, aimed at verifying times and procedures needed for disassembling car parts, and the related opportunities and critical points.
The economical feasibility of the project was verified through the evaluation of possible risks and critical points, potential for acceptance of the digital platform by critical users and initial investment.
We assessed the profitability of the project (costs/benefits) for wrecking yards, mechanics, end users - a key factor to stimulate the use of reused spare parts.

Final results

The project combines organizational change technologies with the construction of new forms of participation and responsibility: today wrecking yards operators perceive their goal as crushing the highest possible percentage of car parts, with minimum revenue; with Car-E their role, as required by European guidelines, will be to decompose a vehicle into a maximum number of useful parts, in order to reintroduce used car parts in the market and to obtain a higher revenue through their resale.
From a technological standpoint, wrecking yards operators have not yet proven to be knowledgeable in e-commerce technology and have not committed to implementing innovative models in order to support their sale processes (which today are only local). The creation of a new, agile, easy to use and based on advanced technological solutions platform will make it possible to satisfy a significant fraction of clients, opening the possibility of a new market.
The distinctive characteristic of the project resides in the fact that technological innovation goes hand in hand with process innovation. The technical solution (e-commerce) by itself in not enough to generate a change in the market; it is also necessary that the internal work processes be significantly changed.