An integrated approach for the benchmarking of production facilities’ environmental performance: data envelopment analysis and life cycle assessment

Environmental impacts have become an important consideration in the manufacturing industry due to increasing public pressure for environment protection and the requirements of recently launched legislations. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a widely adopted methodological approach for the benchmarking of the relative efficiency of different production units. Changes in production efficiency may affect environmental impacts. DEA can be used for identifying the most efficient production facility and hence, the environmental impacts generated from the different production lines can then be benchmarked. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is carried out to quantify the full environmental impacts of a product from ‘cradle to grave’. The integration of LCA with DEA, efficiency and environmental impact of different production processes for a certain family of products can be evaluated and benchmarked. The proposed two-stage approach can help to reduce the aggregate environmental impacts of the manufacturing phase and is used to benchmark the environmental performance of several production lines in a manufacturing company.     

Cleaner production solution selection for paper making – a case study of Latif paper products Co. Iran

Abstract

The objective of this research is to design an approach for selecting appropriate solutions to efficiently and productively reduce environmental pollution and water, energy and raw material consumption in a recycled paper manufacturing facility, the paper mill in Latif, Iran. To reach this goal, we develop a decision-making model using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The proposed model provides a framework for cleaner production implementation specific to the paper industry. Pairwise comparisons of the results of designed questionnaires resulted in the hierarchy model being divided into five major groups: production modification; process change; preventive maintenance; renewal; and manpower resources.These five groups include 31 sub-criteria and seven alternatives. The results showed that process change yields the highest priority among the main criteria and that industrial automation and its technology level gives the highest priority among sub-criteria. Regarding the alternatives, reduction of environmental pollution is the most important solution for cleaner production in the industry. Also, product modification is the most sensitive criterion affecting the alternatives priority.     

Pollution prevention in the pharmaceutical industry

The pharmaceutical industry traditionally uses complex batch-type processes in the manufacture of medicines, although the production of specific medicines by continuous processes is currently envisaged. Due to the diversity of these processes, it is difficult to define a general set of waste prevention guidelines that would apply to all drug manufacturing. The most applicable methods of prevention can, however, be delineated for each of the five steps in the pharmaceutical manufacturing, i.e. (i) research and development, (ii) chemical synthesis, (iii) natural product extraction, (iv) fermentation and (v) product formulation. Waste streams generally arise from cleaning and sterilising equipment, chemical spills, rejected by-products and the processes themselves. Prevention mainly involves waste reduction by materials substitution, process modification/optimisation, waste stream segregation and solvent waste recycling. These measures are assessed and lead to guidelines for waste minimisation methods according to the waste streams under scrutiny.     

Environmental impact assessment of manufacturing processes using a combinatorial mathematics based decision making method

This paper presents a methodology for environmental impact assessment of manufacturing processes using a combinatorial mathematics based decision making method. An ‘environmental impact assessment index’ is proposed that evaluates and ranks the manufacturing processes for producing a given engineering product or component. The index is obtained from an ‘environmental impact assessment factors function’ considering environmental impact assessment factors and their relative importance for the considered application. An example is included to illustrate the approach.     

Sustainable Development and Strategic Thinking

From an economic point of view, the industrial economy is efficient to overcome situations of a scarcity of goods. From a technological point of view, the resource efficiency of the manufacturing processes of the industrial economy has been permanently improved during the last 200 years. In addition, cleaner processes have been developed. However, from an ecologic point of view, an increasing world population with increasing consumption has produced a ＂global footprint＂ which approaches the carrying capacity of the planet. A circular economy and its high-value spin-offs-a lake economy and a performance or functional service economy-can fulfil customers＇ needs with considerably less resource consumption, less environmental impairment in production and considerably less end-of-life product waste, especially in situations of affluence, when a considerable stock of physical goods and infrastructures exists. Also, in situations of a scarcity of natural resources, both energy and materials, often characterised by rapidly rising resource prices, the economic actors of a circular economy have a high competitive advantage over the actors of the industrial economy, due to much lower procurement costs for materials and energy. From a social point of view, a circular economy increases the number of skilled jobs in regional enterprises. However, the shift from a linear manufacturing economy to a circular or service economy means a change in economic thinking from flow （throughput） management to stock （asset） management： in a manufacturing economy with largely unsaturated markets, total wealth increases through accumulation as resource throughput （flow） is transformed into a higher stock of goods of better quality （but in a manufacturing economy with largely saturated markets, wealth represented by the stock of goods will no longer increase）; in a circular or service economy, total wealth increases through a smart management of existing physical assets （stock） that are adapted to changes in both technology and customer demand. This second approach not only applies to physical capital but equally to social capital, such as health and education and green GDP. To measure the social wealth of a population, it is not the amount of money spent on schools and hospitals that matters, butif this expenditure has led to a better education of the students, and a better health of the people.     

BOOK REVIEWS

This study focuses on the technology purchasing decisions of a mid-sized firm (500 employees) that increase the energy efficiency of its computing systems while meeting its business objectives. For example, if company growth requires implementation of a more robust and up-to-date customer tracking system and includes hiring 10 new employees, what course should be followed to ensure a reduction in energy consumption as well as the achievement of company business goals? Should the company purchase a couple of additional servers with limited capacity for growth or should the company replace 20 aging rack servers with six state-of-the-art servers for consolidation and the hosting of virtual machines? And should the company supply the new employees with new cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors or recycle some that have been in storage? There are several alternatives that the firm can use to achieve its goals. This paper evaluates four energy efficiency technologies with respect to their impact on the reduction in energy consumption as well as internal organisational processes and human aspects. A proposed research effort is expected to contribute to energy efficiency literature by capturing adoption decisions from a market – end-user – perspective, and the outcome of this study is proposed to give insights to energy efficiency programme managers into designing more accurate energy efficiency programmes.     

Comparing environmental product footprint for electronic and electric equipment: a multi-criteria approach

Electronic and electric devices are now applied in most human activities: their diffusion is increasing worldwide; furthermore, most of them are characterized by a high replacement rate due to technological obsolescence. Consequently, environmental problems due to their diffusion are increasing; several aspects are involved from the energy consumption derived from their manufacturing processes and their use phases to their end-of-life (EOL) management. Such legislative (e.g. the European Energy Efficiency directive for household appliances) or voluntary interventions (e.g. based on the ISO standards) have been introduced for such devices: the aim is to incorporate environmental considerations in product design and manufacturing in order to benefit the environment. Some attempts are focusing on defining standardized models for the overall lifecycle including waste management. The aim of this paper is to introduce a reference model for comparing environmental product footprint of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). All life cycles of EEE will be evaluated: a specific focus is on the EOL management process as their waste management represents a complex problem for developed and developing countries. A multi-criteria decision-making model will be developed based on the well-known analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method: differently from traditional AHP applications, an absolute model has been proposed in order to compare EEE effectively from an environmental point of view. A case study validation regarding large household appliances is proposed.     

Technological Progress,Structural Change and China''s Energy Efficiency

China has witnessed rapid economic development since 1978, and during the time, energy production and consumption developed at a tremendous speed as well. Energy efficiency which can be measured by energy consumption per unit of GDP, however, experienced continuous decrease. Theoretically, the change of energy efficiency can be attributed to industry structural change and technological change. In order to explain the transformation of Chinese energy efficiency, we adopt logarithmic mean Divisia index techni...     

Eco-friendly aspects associated with friction welding of tube-to-tube plate using an external tool process

The competitiveness among the manufacturers has been forcing the manufacturing processes to be eco-friendly so as to deliver products with lesser impact on the environment, energy demand and other resources consumption. In this regard, this article presents the unique environmentally friendlier aspects associated with an innovative welding process namely friction welding of tube-to-tube plate using an external tool (FWTPET). This process is capable of generating robust weld joints with lesser energy consumption. A comparative analysis of FWTPET with conventional tungsten inert gas welding process has been narrated.     

Computing sustainable manufacturing index with fuzzy analytic hierarchy process

The growing industrial interest in adopting sustainability programmes has ushered in studies regarding sustainability indicators which have continually flourished in current literature. However, limited attention is given to the development of priority ranking, which is an important input for any adopting firm. This paper presents a hybrid multi-criteria approach in determining priority areas in sustainable manufacturing (SM). Using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to address uncertainty in hierarchical decision-making, this paper determines SM priority strategies and eventually identifies even lower level strategies. The computed sustainable manufacturing index is presented at both the organizational and operational levels for a real case study of an industrial plastic manufacturing firm. This work provides a detailed and transparent hierarchical decision-making approach based on SM framework, the use of which could be valuable to practicing managers across industries in their pursuit of greater sustainability.     

Analysis of the energy demand of the Chilean mining industry and its coverage with solar thermal technologies

The mining industry represents more than half of Chile’s foreign exchange earnings and its increasing expansion will demand a continuous development of its energy supplies. Mostly, all the mines in Chile are located in the desert regions, having a large surface with one of the highest solar radiations levels and clearest skies in the world. Covering the mining industry’s energy demand with solar energy is thus an obvious and promising approach. In this paper, the implementation of solar thermal heating is studied in every mining process and the solar thermal electricity generation for the entire mine demand is considered as well. The work concludes that the installation of flat plate collectors to heat water for mine processes, especially for electrowinning, is strongly recommended. Additionally, the installation of solar thermal power plants can satisfy the mining electricity demand.     

Economic and environmental value stream map (E2VSM) simulation for multi-product manufacturing systems

Value stream mapping (VSM) is a well-accepted tool within lean manufacturing concept which is often used for analysing and designing the flow of materials and information required to manufacture a product. However, the analysis is static and single product oriented, which fails to cope with either the variation of production plan or a multi-product environment. In addition, the environmental impact of a manufacturing system is highly associated with the dynamic consumption of energy and resources. Despite the recent integration of VSM with simulation or environmental studies (in the domain of energy efficiency), still neglected is the dynamic assessment of all the resources involved in a multi-product production environment. This paper presents a methodology for modelling multi-product manufacturing systems with dynamic material, energy and information flows with the aim to generate economic and environmental value stream maps (E²VSM). The proposed methodology is validated with an industrial case.     

Carbon weight analysis for machining operation and allocation for redesign

The objective of this research paper is to explore and develop a new methodology for computing carbon weight (CW) – often referred to as carbon footprint, in manufacturing processes from part level to assembly level. In this initial study, we focused on machining operations, specifically turning and milling, for computing CW. Our initial study demonstrates that CW can be computed using either actual measured data from process level information or from initial material and manufacturing process information. In mechanical design, tolerance analysis principles extend from design to manufacturing and tolerances accumulate for parts and processes. By extending this notion to CW, we apply mechanical tolerancing principles for computing worst case and statistical case CW of a product. We call this the CW tolerance approach (CWTA). Two case studies demonstrate the computation of CW. Based on the tolerance allocation concepts; CW allocation is also demonstrated through specific redesign examples. CWTA helps in identifying carbon intensive parts/processes and can be used to make appropriate design decisions.     

Potential use of solar energy for waste activated sludge treatment

The use of solar energy as a disintegration unit operation for waste activated sludge was tested in a pilot plant. The effect of the treatment process on chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), settling time and filtration index was investigated in single (solar) and sequential processes (solar & biological). Solar oxidation was found to be a good sludge disintegration technology. Available solar photons were utilised to degrade the soluble organic matter and release the cell liquids. The highest COD and TSS removal efficiencies were obtained by the month of June. Sequential process efficiencies were related to accumulate solar photons, aerobic treatment time and operational condition. Sequential process resulted in COD and TSS removal efficiency of 16% and 13%, respectively. Increasing aerobic treatment time and/or mixing the oxidised sludge with fresh sludge improved COD and TSS removal efficiencies to 23% and 27%, respectively. The use of sequential processes improves the settling tendency of sludge by bio-oxidation of the released portions and eliminates protein charge effect on sludge settling.     

Indicator framework for sustainable production planning and controlling

Production facilities serve to transform raw materials into products, usually with the goal of achieving a designated output, in terms of quantity and quality, with the minimum of cost and labour. With the aid of production planning and controlling (PPC) systems, raw material inputs, and labour can be planned to achieve a determined output of products. In general, the role of environmental and social aspects is neglected in production planning processes. Because of the growing pressure from politics and customers, sustainable production of products is becoming more important. One possibility for supporting sustainable manufacturing is, to integrate sustainable aspects in the production planning process. This paper presents input and output information for current PPC systems and discusses the need for additional information necessary for sustainable PPC. For this approach, a text review of cooperate social responsibility (CSR) reporting indicators provided by the GRI was performed. Based on the text review, an input-output model has been developed for conventional and another one for sustainable PPC systems. Through the comparison of the two input-output models, challenges and requirements for sustainable PPC systems have been defined as a basis for future work and analyses.     

Energy consumption model and energy efficiency evaluation for CNC continuous generating grinding machine tools

Abstract

Machine tool, which is the basis energy consumed device in manufacturing system, its energy consumption model and energy efficiency evaluation are the prerequisites for energy saving in manufacturing. Considering the multi-energy-sources features,analysed the mathematical model of a CNC continuous generating grinding machine tool from the view of energy constitute. The energy sources of a CNC continuous generating grinding machine tool are classified into gear grinding system, grinding wheel dressing system and auxiliary system. Based on the power balance equations of energy flow, the energy flow system of a CNC continuous generating grinding machine tool is established. And then the energy consumption mathematical model of a CNC continuous generating grinding machine tool is set up by combining the power balance equations with the operating features of three kinds of energy sources. The case study shows that the proposed energy consumption model can provide fundamental support for energy consumption forecasting, energy efficiency analysis and energy-saving optimisation during the machine tool operation process.     

China’s Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy:2006-2010

China achieved major progress in low-carbon development during the period of the 11th Five Year Plan (2006-2010). The increasing trend of energy intensity and carbon intensity of the economy as seen prior to 2005 was reversed to a sharp decreasing trend, leading to a 19% decrease in energy intensity and 21% decrease in carbon intensity in five years. The enhanced energy efficiency, mostly due to efficiency improvement in power and manufacturing sector, is the major driver of the decrease in carbon intensity of the economy. The development of renewable energy, despite its impressive growth rate, played a minor role because of its small share in the energy mix of the country. Energy con-sumption and energy-related carbon emissions per unit of area in building continued to grow at a lesser rate, which, combined with the fast growth of total building volume, led to fast growth in total energy consumption and carbon emissions in the sector. Similar trend is observed in the transportation sector whose total energy use and carbon emissions continued to grow fast despite slight improvement in energy efficiency. Agricultural energy use experienced a slight change and forestry made a major contribution to carbon sinks. Policy and institutional innovations helped build a solid system of rules for low-carbon development. Improving cost effectiveness of the system remains a major challenge for the next five year plan period.     

基于环境效应的中国制造业全要素能源效率变动研究

以2003 - 2008年中国制造业28个行业面板数据为样本,选取行业固定资产净值年平均余额、年末从业人员数和能源消费为投入指标,行业总产值、SO2排放量为好和坏的产出指标,运用非参数数据包络分析的DEA-Malmquist生产率指数法测算了考虑环境效应的制造业行业全要素能源效率指数;并运用Tobit模型研究了全要素能源效率的影响因素.研究结果显示:考虑环境效应的中国制造业行业全要素能源效率总体呈现稳步增长趋势,但远低于不考虑环境污染时制造业全要素能源效率,技术进步是制造业全要素能源效率提高的主要原因;分行业看,重工业行业的全要素能源效率显著高于轻工业行业,且行业内部差异显著;全要素能源效率增长率较高的行业主要集中在垄断程度高、进入壁垒高的行业,增长率较低的行业主要是劳动密集型行业;外资水平、资本深化和市场竞争对轻工业的全要素能源效率有显著正向影响,企业规模的扩大对重工业提高能源效率有积极作用,外资水平提高在一定程度上降低了重工业的全要素能源效率.     

Perceptions regarding the challenges and constraints faced by smallholder farmers of vanilla in Mexico

Mexico was the main vanilla producer worldwide many years ago. However, it currently provides just around 5 % of the global production. The issues that have led to the current stagnation of the vanilla production in Mexico have been addressed from various perspectives, but few studies have included the opinion of smallholder farmers. For this reason, the aim of this study was to conduct a participatory diagnostic to identify the challenges and constraints that affect the vanilla productive sector in Mexico from the smallholder farmers perspective. This study was conducted under the of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) approach; consequently, we used PRA techniques for data collection. The qualitative data obtained were transcribed and analyzed using the Content Analysis Method (CAM) and Constant Comparative Method (CCM). The results showed that most of the challenges and limitations referred to by smallholder farmers result from the lack of training to improve production, processing, and marketing. Likewise, various restrictive aspects were identified in the production process that affect crop productivity, such as cultivation in small parcels, high incidence of diseases, premature abortion of fruits, and low tolerance of plants to stress. An aspect common to all processes is the need to promote organization and training schemes, since under the conditions described for the vanilla production chain in Mexico, relationships have been built in highly competitive communities and, in general, the targets seek have been mutually exclusive. For the above, we consider that achieving more profitable and sustainable production schemes require placing smallholder farmers at the base of an inclusive production system supported by fair trade, with organization, institutions, technology transfer, level of trust, and cooperation as core elements.