Comparison of Four Environmental Assessment Tools in Swedish Manufacturing: A Case Study

Abstract

To achieve sustainable development goals, it is essential to include the industrial system. There are sufficient numbers of tools and methods for measuring, assessing and improving the quality, productivity and efficiency of production, but the number of tools and methods for environmental initiatives on the shop floor is rather low. Incorporating environmental considerations into production and performance management systems still generally involves a top-down approach aggregated for an entire manufacturing plant. Green lean studies have been attempting to fill this gap to some extent, but the lack of detailed methodologies and practical tools for environmental manufacturing improvement on the shop floor is still evident. This paper reports on the application of four environmental assessment tools commonly used among Swedish manufacturing companies—Green Performance Map (GPM), Environmental Value Stream Mapping (EVSM), Waste Flow Mapping (WFM), and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)—to help practitioners and scholars to understand the different features of each tool, so in turn the right tool(s) can be selected according to particular questions and the industrial settings. Because there are some overlap and differences between the tools and a given tool may be more appropriate to a situation depending on the question posed, a combination of tools is suggested to embrace different types of data collection and analysis to include different environmental impacts for better prioritization and decision-making.

Is it possible to improve the international business action towards the sustainable development goals?

“…In the third phase, innovation is implemented by continuously monitoring goals and good practices. Shahbazi et al (2019) compare four tools for monitoring the impact of production: life cycle assessment, waste flow mapping, green performance map and environmental value stream mapping. Despite a large number of tools and indicators aimed at measuring the SDGs, Janoušková et al (2018), in comparing over 300 indicators, conclude that assessing sustainability is a tremendously difficult task; they believe that the different and inconsistent results published can cause serious doubts and misunderstandings about the ability to evaluate the implementation of the SDGs.…”

“…The second step is to transform research and development into new sustainable products, processes or services. In the third phase, innovation is implemented by continuously monitoring goals and good practices Shahbazi et al (2019). compare four tools for monitoring the impact of production: life cycle assessment, waste flow mapping, green performance map and environmental value stream mapping.…”

Sustainability-Oriented Application of Value Stream Mapping: A Review and Classification

“…In 2019, many investigations had extensively documented the implementation of VSM for developing sustainability in manufacturing. However, several studies [63][64][65] focused solely on environmental issues. Lorenzon dos Santos et al [63] assessed the main obstacles and drivers for VSM application on environmental aspects through a survey of 35 VSM specialists.…”

“…Meanwhile, the two most important drivers for VSM application are the essential role of VSM as a well-defined method for improvement and VSM as an efficient mapping method in shortening data collection time [63]. Shahbazi et al [64] compared the application of four commonly used environmental assessment tools namely Green Performance Map (GPM), Environmental Value Stream Mapping (EVSM), Waste Flow Mapping (WFM), and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in assessing the material efficiency and metal scrap generation of a Swedish vehicle frame production process. The results showed that GPM enables the illustration of environmental issues as an inputoutput model, EVSM shows chosen environmental dimensions with production-related data and information flows for better understanding, WFM presents an analysis of material and waste flows along the waste management supply chain while LCA assists in analysing the degree of environmental impact associated with various environmental issues and hence defines prioritisation and avoids suboptimisation.…”

Modeling Work Practices under Socio-Technical Systems for Sustainable Manufacturing Performance

“…The second stream damaging inputs and practices and provide eco-efficient products [18]. Shahbazi et al [19] provided a comparison of the effectiveness of the different environmental management practices used in the manufacturing industry. Their findings indicated the choice of the right tool for effective usage of resources is largely dependent on the situation in which the tool is being used.…”