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THE BBS REACT TEAM WITH DISMECO TO FACE THE EMERGENCY

Alessandro Milanesi
Alumno of the Executive Master’s in Supply Chain and Operations
11 November 2020

Alessandro Milanesi, Alumno of the Executive Master’s in Supply Chain and Operations, tells us about his experience with DISMECO, a Bologna-based company working in the field of recycling of electronic waste, with the BBS React Innovation Program Team.

DISMECO has always been an innovative enterprise: it was among the first few companies, in Italy, to provide services for the recycling of large household appliances, the so-called WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment). A selective dismantling system was developed that allows to recover up to 98% of the materials used to manufacture the appliances.

This system has provided the company with a unique know-how in Italy, an invaluable set of knowledge that the GM, Mr. Claudio Tedeschi, decided to share with the community. The aim was to give their contribution to face the current health emergency, with the MDRe project – Medical Device Regeneration, in collaboration with the Association Zero Waste Italy. It was precisely this project that could count on the intervention of the BBS React Team, as one of its protagonists, Alessandro Milanesi, tells us.

Why did you decide to be part of the team and how was the experience?

I was immediately impressed by the React project as a whole. Having the chance to cooperate with companies in our geographical area; to set up and organize new business plans was an idea that inspired me right away. Also, it was something that I had been wanting to explore for some time. Furthermore, these days it’s not easy to be able to have a dialogue with colleagues and professionals from other companies and exchange ideas and opinions on practical topics like the ones I tackled with the project I worked on with the BBS React team.

I went through this experience with an open mind, free from the frameworks that I normally apply to what I do, trying to take in as much as I could from the meetings with my colleagues, with Mr. Tedeschi and the other professional figures who had joined us to bring forward this project, like for example prof. Ercolini, who has been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize.

How was, if any, the integration with the company’s staff?

The MDRe project was Mr. Tedeschi’s idea: he’s a local entrepreneur, and the owner of DISMECO. He saw, in this dark period, the concrete chance to help the national healthcare system and related organizations, to recover end-of-life or obsolete spare components from electromedical equipment. Mr. Tedeschi has always actively taken part in the team meetings and he was our main reference person.

The MDRe project is innovative, there’s nothing much in terms of business types already in the market that can compare to it, mainly because it’s a new project, with a strong ethical dimension, focused on being useful to the community, making use of DISMECO extended know-how to help reduce the costs of the public healthcare system and laying the foundations for a successful business case, totally centered around sustainability.

Do you feel that, together with the group, you made the difference with this project?

The BBS React team, with Mr. Tedeschi, contributed to lay the groundwork for the MDRe project. Through the interviews with several stakeholders (among which, healthcare organizations, hospitals, university professors, etc.), different research projects on the market of electromedical equipment and various analyses, we started analyzing the possible alternatives and we formulated the first few hypotheses on how to respond at best to the main players’ needs. On the pathway towards the last milestone, we honed the implementation plan, defining a roadmap that was convincing for Mr. Tedeschi. I’m sure we’ll hear about the MDRe project!

In general, how would you evaluate the experience as a whole?

I believe it’s been a very positive experience. The set-up given to the project by the BBS REACT board provided the correct organizational inputs and perfectly staggered activities in order to implement the project correctly and conclude the work. Many of the elements we encountered will be of help to me in the future as well, like for example the board on Miro, a tool as simple as it is ingenious, and it was great to witness it develop day after day.

Alessandro is the spokesperson of the BBS React Team for Dismeco, which also included:

  • Simone Tedino
  • Piyush Sawhney
  • Erika Orioli
  • Emmanuel Baffo

And we should add Alberto Miti and Matteo Negrini too (Team Tutor and Mentor)