Rental solutions
March 04, 2026Squaring the circle
During the Apollo 13 mission, as NASA engineers worked tirelessly to bring three astronauts safely back to Earth, they faced a challenge that seemed impossible: making a square fit into a circle. The lunar module’s carbon dioxide filters were round, while those in the command module were square. With only the limited materials available on board, they had to devise a solution. After hours of intense problem-solving, they succeeded.
Today, we face a similar reality: we know resources are finite, and we must learn to use them more efficiently. But how do we achieve this while sustaining economic growth? In other words, how do we square the circle of efficiency in using resources while finding business opportunities? At Sulzer, we believe one solution to this challenge is circularity, implemented through our services allowing our clients to extend product and infrastructure lifecycles.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), a business-to-business approach to circularity rests on two concepts: repurpose and recycle. This means finding new applications for existing products and adapting them to extend their useful life. Behind these goals lies more than resource efficiency; they unlock significant economic potential. According to McKinsey, refurbishing machinery, restoring components, and reusing products across projects deliver tangible benefits: higher margins, improved supply chain resilience, and lower raw material costs.
Products with more than one life
At Sulzer, we believe we can square the circle by giving products more than one life. For example, our Rental Solutions team is dedicated to achieving that purpose every day. Sulzer’s rental offer covers everything from small‑scale commodity rentals to the design, management, and execution of large, customized projects, including submersible drainage and sludge pumps, temporary bypass pumping systems, mobile groundwater‑dewatering setups, and containerized aeration units. Once a project concludes, our team dismantles the solution, repairs all the equipment, and prepares it for future adaptation and reuse.
Rental Solutions represents a practical way to square the circle. By reusing machinery and extending the life of our equipment across multiple projects, we reduce unnecessary resource consumption while creating tangible economic value. This approach not only minimizes costs for our customers and the company but also strengthens supply chain resilience and improves operational efficiency. Every piece of equipment that is repaired and redeployed avoids the need for new manufacturing, turning resource optimization into a business advantage.
In this way, the customer received a tailored, cost-effective solution that minimized administrative complexity, while Sulzer extended the useful life of its equipment across multiple projects. This approach prevents unnecessary resource consumption for machinery that would otherwise serve only a temporary purpose and delivers economic value through rental and reuse.
Just as NASA engineers found a way to make a square fit into a circle during Apollo 13, we believe Sulzer applies the same principles through Rental Solutions: reusing equipment, extending its life, and delivering tailored solutions that meet customer needs while optimizing resources. In doing so, we square the circle, combining efficiency, economic value, and responsible resource use in a way that benefits both our clients and our business.
Circularity: An Economic Opportunity
In those critical hours of Apollo 13, NASA engineers taught astronauts to repurpose available materials and give them a second life. A powerful example of circular thinking applied under pressure. Today, the same principle guides us as we are opening the door to business models where reusing and extending the lifecycle of products are cornerstones.According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), a business-to-business approach to circularity rests on two concepts: repurpose and recycle. This means finding new applications for existing products and adapting them to extend their useful life. Behind these goals lies more than resource efficiency; they unlock significant economic potential. According to McKinsey, refurbishing machinery, restoring components, and reusing products across projects deliver tangible benefits: higher margins, improved supply chain resilience, and lower raw material costs.
Products with more than one life
At Sulzer, we believe we can square the circle by giving products more than one life. For example, our Rental Solutions team is dedicated to achieving that purpose every day. Sulzer’s rental offer covers everything from small‑scale commodity rentals to the design, management, and execution of large, customized projects, including submersible drainage and sludge pumps, temporary bypass pumping systems, mobile groundwater‑dewatering setups, and containerized aeration units. Once a project concludes, our team dismantles the solution, repairs all the equipment, and prepares it for future adaptation and reuse.Rental Solutions represents a practical way to square the circle. By reusing machinery and extending the life of our equipment across multiple projects, we reduce unnecessary resource consumption while creating tangible economic value. This approach not only minimizes costs for our customers and the company but also strengthens supply chain resilience and improves operational efficiency. Every piece of equipment that is repaired and redeployed avoids the need for new manufacturing, turning resource optimization into a business advantage.
When operational continuity meets circularity
The renovation of the Horsens Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Denmark is a good example of these principles. The facility needed to replace its outdated inlet equipment, and Sulzer’s Rental Solutions team kept operations running throughout the upgrade. We installed a custom pumping solution that allowed the plant to remain operational during installation. The customer gained a high-performance inlet system with improved capture rates, better control of screenings’ dryness, and reduced maintenance requirements. Beyond these technical advantages, the customer also achieved a 30% cost reduction by relying on Sulzer as a single point of contact for both the rental solution and the upgrade.In this way, the customer received a tailored, cost-effective solution that minimized administrative complexity, while Sulzer extended the useful life of its equipment across multiple projects. This approach prevents unnecessary resource consumption for machinery that would otherwise serve only a temporary purpose and delivers economic value through rental and reuse.
Just as NASA engineers found a way to make a square fit into a circle during Apollo 13, we believe Sulzer applies the same principles through Rental Solutions: reusing equipment, extending its life, and delivering tailored solutions that meet customer needs while optimizing resources. In doing so, we square the circle, combining efficiency, economic value, and responsible resource use in a way that benefits both our clients and our business.
