Integrating pollution prevention into the manufacturing process

An Integrated Manufacturing and Environmental (IME) approach to pollution prevention offers the opportunity to achieve regulatory compliance and substantial operational efficiencies. It is accomplished by realizing the simple fact that waste represents a quality defect and adapting traditional manufacturing industry analytical methods to also consider environmental factors. The author outlines techniques and procedures entailed by this approach that are applicable to both large and small facilities as part of an overall Total Quality Management program. Several case examples are provided.