Marketing for Sustainable Development

14Augmented Products: The Contribution of Industry 4.0 to Sustainable Consumption

Myriam ERTZ, Shouheng SUN, Émilie BOILY,

Gautier Georges Yao QUENUM, Kubiat PATRICK, Yassine LAGHRIB,

Damien HALLEGATTE, Julien BOUSQUET and Imen LATROUS

LaboNFC, University of Quebec at Chicoutimi, Saguenay, Canada

14.1. Introduction

Planned obsolescence has often been decried by researchers, politicians, the media and the general public, but what is it? Technically speaking, obsolescence is the depreciation of materials or equipment ahead of their material wear. Planned obsolescence, for its part, is a strategy used by manufacturers aiming to reduce the life spans of objects via various means: by making them unrepairable; by reducing the guarantee; by making replacement parts unavailable or expensive; by using low-quality materials; or by shortening some assembly stages. This, at any rate, is what was suggested by Vance Packard, an American theoretician working on planned obsolescence in the 1970s. However, is this obsolescence planned? That is the real question, as very often it is a question of lower costs to maintain favorable prices and stay competitive. In this case, obsolescence would therefore be involuntary. Nonetheless, whether it is planned or involuntary, the results are the same: significant waste production, especially electronic waste. In 2016, 44.7 million tons of waste formed of electronic devices was generated worldwide. By 2025, this volume is predicted to rise to 63.7 million ...