Circularity at Konecranes: modular, durable and recyclable equipment

Konecranes has taken large strides in recent years to reduce the environmental impact of its operations, and that work has been recognized with the highest possible rankings in the benchmark EcoVadis and CDP surveys.

One critical area where the company is continually seeking to improve is its circularity efforts – essentially how to get the most out the resources used to make material handling products and solutions, then finding ways to reuse those materials after years of use or at the end of their service life.

Linda Rekosuo, Sustainability Manager for Circularity and Nature at Konecranes, sat down to talk more about what circularity means in practice to Konecranes, and shared some examples of the ongoing efforts to implement it across the company.

Hi there, let’s start off by describing what we mean by circularity.

Sure, so in basic terms it's a method to reduce environmental impact through a more efficient use and reuse of resources. Due to its potential to significantly mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, it is one of the key means to combat climate change.

Easy enough! So, what does circularity mean for Konecranes?

At Konecranes, we are committed to circularity by enhancing resource efficiency, extending equipment lifetime, eliminating waste and closing material loops. In business context this means turning inefficiencies in value chains into business value: Revenue from new ways to provide value to customers, cost savings from resource efficiency, resilience towards material shortages and finally positive environmental impact. First, our service and digital offering helps in maximizing the product lifecycle value through e.g. modernizations and retrofits or preventive maintenance. Second, we design our equipment keeping the entire product lifecycle in mind, enabling easy maintainability, repairability, upgradability and recyclability. Third, we continuously develop resource efficiency in our own operations for example by applying lean principles and the environmental management system. Furthermore, we’re also constantly developing new ways to apply circular principles by innovating new business models, for  example.

In practice, I think circularity can be best seen in our Industrial Service and Port Service businesses, where we extend the lifetime of customers’ equipment through maintenance, modernizations, repairs and spare parts, for example. The Service business represents more than 40 percent of Konecranes’ revenue annually.

Additionally, we apply Konecranes’ Design for Environment approach in the  product development of both the Industrial Equipment and Port Solutions businesses to improve our the products’ environmental performance. .

Our equipment consist primarily of different types of metals, like steel or aluminum, and we estimate that more than 90 percent of the material weight are metals, which can be recycled.

What are you currently focusing on?

Circularity is part of our climate transition plan, which defines our focus areas to reach our emission reduction targets. We are rethinking the ways we use resources, provide value to customers and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

To put it simply we are trying to accelerate the adoption of circularity all the time in our products, services and own operations. Every year we are investigating at least three circular business possibilities.

In 2024, the three new opportunities related to a reuse concept for transport packaging; end-of-life services for cranes; and end-of-life opportunities for batteries.

Are there some other examples you could point to, maybe with customers?

I think the best example I can give here would be modernizations and retrofits, where we not only extend the lifetime of older cranes but also add value to the crane by upgrading its functions.

As for customers, we won a contract in the Netherlands in 2024, for example. The crane started service in 2003 and is now getting significant upgrades for its main components – drives, electrics, engine and hydraulics – while we add new features like electric drives and components controlled by updated software. It is a major overhaul.

Another example here is our power model modernization offering called Ecolifting Retrofits for port cranes. Cranes like straddle carriers are now being designed around three power options – hybrid, battery and hydrogen – so customers can make changes quickly as new options become available with the minimum amount of service downtime. This is good example of our climate work and circularity. In South Carolina for example, we did a customer project where 12 RTG cranes were converted into fuel-efficient hybrids.

To close, what potential opportunities interest you as a circularity expert?

Personally, I would like to see more closed loops where the old materials are reused instead of discarded. This not only reduces the consumption of new raw materials but can also shorten components’ lead time, reduce the cost and help in case of material availability issues. Our customers are becoming more conscious of what happens to products at the end of life, and this might increase the demand for different end of life services.

Konecranes already provides certain Product-as-a-Service solutions, allowing customers to pay based on equipment usage rather than purchasing the equipment outright. It’s interesting to see how these new service models will evolve in the coming years.