The Raw Materials & Product Passport: directing supply chain risks and opportunities

Raw material and product data are the keys to future-proof business in the manufacturing industry. Because with insight into what your products contain, where they are, and how they are maintained , you can better manage the security of raw material supply, cost savings, sustainability, and strategic innovation. That is, innovation that increases your long-term competitiveness, such as circular design and new revenue models. The Raw Material & Product Passport (GPP) helps you manage this. The GPP brings together important data about your materials and your product in a single transparent and traceable overview. To help manufacturers collect, organize, and strategically apply data, this page contains the Raw Material & Product Passport Guide and information about Do-it-together Workshops and Do-it-yourself programs.

For whom?

 

  • Manufacturers in the manufacturing industry, particularly product designers: control over raw materials and value retention, reducing environmental impact
  • Purchasers and contracting authorities, such as governments and housing associations: control vulnerabilities in the chain, reduce environmental impact
  • Parties that refurbish, repair, sort, or recycle: insight into materials, residual value, and reuse possibilities
  • End user or consumer: use the GPP to make well-informed choices

Why a GPP for the manufacturing industry?

The GPP arose from the need within the Dutch manufacturing industry to resolve vulnerabilities in value chains as well as to make more data-driven choices that increase the competitiveness of individual companies and of chains as a whole. Think of concrete product innovations but also knowledge building and new business models. The GPP also prepares producers for European legislation and regulations. It also enables buyers and procurers to make better demands in the chain based on clear standards.

 

What information do you collect in the GPP?

In the Raw Material & Product Passport, you collect important data in one transparent and traceable overview. Think about:

  • Product and production information: how, where, and with which raw materials and resources the product was manufactured.
  • Usage data: how the product is used and maintained, and what its footprint is.
  • Circular plan (value retention): strategies to keep materials in the chain for longer.
  • End-of-life: transfer of responsibility at the end of the product's life cycle.

Producers, designers, and buyers worked together to develop practical guidelines to assist in collecting this data.

"At Fluidor, we believe that collecting product information is more than an obligation. We see product data as strategic capital and therefore an opportunity. An opportunity to design smarter, produce more efficiently, and create long-term value for customers worldwide." Rob Wouters, Fluidor Equipment

Benefits for product designers

A Raw Materials & Product Passport makes it easier for a product designer at a manufacturer (OEM) to work data-driven. It makes visible where the greatest opportunities lie to save raw materials and costs, minimize waste streams and retain valuable materials in the chain.

The first time you draw up the GPP you are in fact doing a baseline measurement, after which you can continue to improve the performance of your product in a very targeted way. For example, consider a fully circular product design. Because the GPP is public and traceable, you also meet the demand for transparency from customers and end users. With this, the GPP can be an impetus for developing joint end-of-life solutions and new revenue models such as product-as-a-service.

 

Benefits for buyers and procurers

With the GPP, buyers and procurers gain insight into chain risks, including the security of supply of raw materials, and opportunities that circularity offers for value retention in the chain. Using the GPP as a basis, you can make more targeted inquiries in the chain and identify opportunities for improvement. Think of reducing your environmental impact, but also risk management, cost optimization over the lifecycle (total cost of ownership) and strengthening the competitive position in a rapidly changing market.

An overarching benefit for the entire chain is that the GPP supports knowledge sharing and standardization; chain partners jointly address challenges they cannot solve alone, while industry associations can use data in setting (EU) product norms and standards.

With the GPP, you meet compliance requirements

Within the EU, a legally required Digital Product Passport (DPP) already exists with which companies must comply with (upcoming) European laws and regulations. Think of laws and regulations such as:

  • Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR): sets requirements for product design, reusability and repairability.
  • Machine Regulation: enables digital delivery documents
  • Cyber Resilience Act (CRA): sets guidelines for secure digital communications

These laws and regulations were introduced in 2024 and will become active in phases starting in 2027. The DPP will be the European instrument to make product data accessible in the chain, starting with batteries, textiles, electronics and construction materials. Other sectors will follow. For manufacturers and importers/distributors, this means that sooner or later you cannot avoid such a passport.

Getting started with your GPP

Do you work in Climate Systems or Mechanical Engineering? Then you will find below the comprehensive technical Guides for the GPP. These Guides provide context and practical support for collecting, structuring and applying raw material and product data.

You can also sign up for one of the live Raw Materials & Product Passport workshops, where you'll collaborate with like-minded companies, designers and buyers on concrete solutions for your situation.

Want to delve more broadly into the possibilities of circularity for your product and business? Then sign up for a CIRCO Track or start working with the Grip op Grondstoffen Tool, for example. With this you can identify which risks you run when using certain raw materials.

Need support with your Feedstock & Product Passport? Get in touch.

We can support the creation of a Resource & Product Passport in several ways. Would you like to join a workshop? Then check out the workshop offerings in the Circonnect calendar. Don't have a workshop scheduled or prefer to come another time? Sign up in our design tools and put yourself on the waiting list for the workshop(s) of your choice.

Want to organize a workshop within your sector or chain? Lilian van Hove would be happy to help you (lilian@circonnect.org )

Call: collaborate on the Guide GPP for your industry!

In addition to the Guides for Climate Systems and Mechanical Engineering, more GPP Guides are under development for the manufacturing industry. In these, several partners (companies and knowledge institutes) are working together on one Guide. Contributing to this process means taking a leading role in shaping the GPP for your industry as well as an opportunity to be at the forefront of strategic innovation.

We are still looking for content partners for several Guiding Councils, so if you find it interesting and relevant to help shape the future of data-driven work in manufacturing, please contact Iris Grobben.