Steps towards sustainable manufacturing through modelling material, energy and waste flows

Abstract

A sustainable society cannot be realised without more efficient approaches and technologies which must in part be provided by manufacturing. Available literature covers the principles for making manufacturing more sustainable, but there is little, if any, practical guidance to show how to apply these principles. Lower level guidelines are required to provide guidance on systematically analysing manufacturing facilities and to assist with the identification and selection of improvement opportunities. This paper reports on work to develop guidelines for Material, Energy and Waste (MEW) process flow modelling to support the pursuit of sustainable manufacturing. Using qualitative MEW process flow maps of a case facility, data was collected to build a spreadsheet model aligned to each of the MEW process flows. The quantitative analysis provided detailed insight into the MEW process flows within the system and assisted with the identification and selection of environmental efficiency improvements. The key learning points from conducting the analysis generated a set of guidelines to aid the analysis of manufacturing systems, using MEW process flow modelling. This paper documents the approach developed and the environmental performance improvement opportunities identified in the case facility.

Performance Analysis of the Capability Assessment Tool for Sustainable Manufacturing

“…Environmental capabilities and the associated indicators [10,32,33,36,37] are broadly grouped within three management categories, including resources (energy, water, and material), emissions (waste and greenhouse gas emissions), and environment (e.g., ISO 14001 standards). These are the key elements that to some extent have also been considered by similar studies in these areas, e.g., Material; Energy; and Waste, MEW, used by Smith and Ball [38]. These eight clusters were grouped into three broader areas of sustainable manufacturing; resource management, emissions management, and improved management practices (in order to introduce environmental sustainability).…”

“…Suggested energy management hierarchies for sustainability purposes have usually integrated carbon and energy-related capability, e.g., [41] also used by Smith and Ball [38], as energy can often serve as a proxy for carbon emissions, particularly for fossil-based energy systems. In fact, although some capabilities relating to -carbon emissions‖ and -energy efficiency‖ are connected, good capabilities in one cluster do not necessarily mean good capabilities in other clusters.…”

The Effect of Lean Techniques on Elimination of Waste in Composite Panel Production Using Paired t-test

“…It acts as a bench mark for continuous actives [4]. Process mapping is one of the efficient and convenient way to capture and draft the data related to waste mapping.…”

Sustainable Rent-Based Closed-Loop Supply Chain for Fashion Products

“…However, these presented strategies will not directly lead to sustainable practices, as the system is not yet ready for radical change. Smith and Ball [44] developed guidelines for material, energy-and-waste process flow modelling to support the pursuit of sustainable manufacturing. In the context of sustainable manufacturing, Ball et al [45] examined the concept of zero carbon manufacturing as a constituent element of sustainable manufacturing, which focused on the tactical and operational levels of an organization.…”