A framework for supporting the sustainable adoption of biopolymers in packaging applications

This thesis reports on the research undertaken to investigate the reduction of the environmental impacts of plastic packaging through the effective selection and application of biopolymers during the pack design process. The principle objective of this research is to develop an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of biopolymers as a packaging material and to develop a framework which enables biopolymers to be considered at each stage of the pack design process to enable their effective and appropriate selection and use

A Framework for the Resilient use of Critical Materials in Sustainable Manufacturing Systems

AbstractA number of materials have been identified by the EU as being critical to their member's economies and manufacturing industries. A material has been defined by the EU as being critical if it is of “high economic importance combined with a high risk of supply shortage”. This criticality will become increasingly acute as the escalating use of finite resources continues, driven by growing populations and consumer demand. One group of materials that is listed top on the majority of these „critical‟ lists are rare earths, which include the elements neodymium and dysprosium. These are often used in high value, high technology products used in renewable energy, military and aerospace sectors. Whilst most manufactures would be aware of the direct use of rare earth elements in their products, many may not be aware of their indirect use such as in manufacturing equipment and bought-in components, or further down the value chain in inter-reliant products or consumables. This paper presents a framework for the resilient use of critical materials in sustainable manufacturing systems. The first phase of this three phase framework identifies where, in the value chain of this business, critical material are used. Once identified, the second phase assesses the level of risk to the business based upon the likelihood, frequency and severity of a supply disruption occurring for the critical material identified. The third phase supports the identification and development of suitable mitigation strategies to reduce this risk, including the consideration of factors specific to the business as well as more general ones associated with the type of rare earth and its application. The paper concludes with a case study, based on simulated data, that demonstrates the application of phase one of this framework in a typical manufacturing operation

Reclosable packaging

A package comprises a flexible bag (1) and a label (2), the bag having a closed end (3). The closed end is openable to provide an opening (12) for access to the contents of the package and reclosable by means of the label (2). The label (2) has on one face two areas (8, 9) of adhesive separated by a non-adhesive area (10), the adhesive areas (8, 9) being adapted to adhere to the package (1) one to each side of the opening (12) such that said non-adhesive area (10) extends over the opening

A framework for material flow assessment in manufacturing systems

Improving material efficiency is widely accepted as one of the key challenges facing manufacturers in the future. Increasing material consumption is having detrimental impacts on the environment as a result of their extraction, processing, and disposal. It is clear that radical improvements in material efficiency are required to avoid further environmental damage and sustain the manufacturing sector. Current resource management approaches are predominantly used to improve material consumption solely in economic terms. Meanwhile, environmental assessment methodologies can determine sources of significant environmental impact related to a product; however, a methodology to effectively assess material efficiency in production systems is currently not available. This paper highlights the benefits of material flow modeling within manufacturing systems to support advances in increased material efficiency, proposing a framework for “material flow assessment in manufacturing” that promotes greater understanding of material flow and flexibility to explore innovative options for improvement

A framework and decision support tool for improving value chain resilience to critical materials in manufacturing

Certain non-energy materials have been identified as being critical to the manufacturing sector and wider economy. These critical materials have both a high risk of supply disruption combined with high economic importance. The criticality of specific raw materials is becoming increasingly acute as the escalating use of resources is driven by an increasing global population combined with increasing consumer demand for an ever wider variety of products. Critical materials are vital elements in the value chain yet their supply risk may often be ineffectively addressed by traditional supply chain management strategies. Most critical material research to date has been focused at a national or industrial policy level thus many manufacturers are unaware if their operations are at risk from critical materials at a product level. This paper presents a framework that takes a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and mitigating risk associated with critical materials bilaterally along the value chain to facilitate manufacturers in the identification, assessment and mitigation of critical material supply risk. This paper also describes how the framework can be facilitated for application in industry through preliminary design specifications towards a development of a decision support tool

Impact of the use of renewable materials on ecoefficiency of manufacturing processes

The use of renewable materials has attracted interest from a wide range of manufacturing industries looking to reduce their environmental and carbon footprints. As such, the development and use of biopolymers has been largely driven by their perceived environmental benefits over conventional polymers. However, often these environmental claims, when challenged, are lacking in substance. One reason for this is the lack of quality data for all life cycle stages. This applies to the manufacturing stages of packaging, otherwise known as ‘packaging conversion’, where for certain product/production types, a reduction in energy consumption of 25–30% from lower processing temperatures can be offset by an increase in pressure, cycle times and reject rates. The ambiguity of the overall environmental benefit achieved during this stage of the life cycle, when this is the main driver for their use, highlights the need for a clearer understanding of impact that such materials have on the manufacturing processes

An examination of application scale for material flow assessment in manufacturing systems

Evaluation of material flow in manufacturing systems can be used as a way of identifying and implementing options for improvements in material efficiency in the factory. We have previously developed a framework for material flow assessment in manufacturing systems (MFAM), which incorporates material flow information in both quantitative and qualitative terms as materials travel through a user-defined system. In this paper we examine the potential for application of the MFAM at various system scales, ranging from individual process scale, to manufacturing cell, factory, enterprise, and local or global supply chain scale divisions. Here we describe guidelines for setting the appropriate system boundary. In addition we highlight the potential material efficiency improvement options available in each case, in terms of the scope of improvements and the potential for integration within future strategic planning processes

A decision support tool for improving value chain resilience to critical materials in manufacturing

A number of non-energy materials have been identified by the EU as being critical to the manufacturing sector and wider economy. A material is termed a critical material when it has a “high economic importance combined with a high risk of supply shortage” relative to other materials as defined by the EU. This criticality of specific raw materials will become increasingly acute as the escalating use of finite resources continues, driven by increasing consumer demand for an ever wider variety of products by a growing global population. Critical materials are vital elements in the value chain yet many manufacturers are unaware if they are affected by the use of a critical material in their operations. We have previously developed a framework that takes a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and mitigating risk associated with critical materials bilaterally up and down the value chain. In this paper we examine how this framework can be facilitated for application in industry through the specification and development of a decision support tool

A framework for the resilient use of critical materials in sustainable manufacturing systems

A number of materials have been identified by the EU as being critical to their member's economies and manufacturing industries. A material has been defined by the EU as being critical if it is of “high economic importance combined with a high risk of supply shortage”. This criticality will become increasingly acute as the escalating use of finite resources continues, driven by growing populations and consumer demand. One group of materials that is listed top on the majority of these „critical‟ lists are rare earths, which include the elements neodymium and dysprosium. These are often used in high value, high technology products used in renewable energy, military and aerospace sectors. Whilst most manufactures would be aware of the direct use of rare earth elements in their products, many may not be aware of their indirect use such as in manufacturing equipment and bought-in components, or further down the value chain in inter-reliant products or consumables. This paper presents a framework for the resilient use of critical materials in sustainable manufacturing systems. The first phase of this three phase framework identifies where, in the value chain of this business, critical material are used. Once identified, the second phase assesses the level of risk to the business based upon the likelihood, frequency and severity of a supply disruption occurring for the critical material identified. The third phase supports the identification and development of suitable mitigation strategies to reduce this risk, including the consideration of factors specific to the business as well as more general ones associated with the type of rare earth and its application. The paper concludes with a case study, based on simulated data, that demonstrates the application of phase one of this framework in a typical manufacturing operation

An integrated tool to support sustainable toy design and manufacture

Whilst the importance of considering the positive societal benefits of a product, in addition to other social, economic and environmental factors, has received wider recognition, its definition, concept, and integration into product design are not so well developed and studied. A literature review on sustainable design identified the potential of Social Life-Cycle Assessment as a tool to measure societal benefits of products; however further analysis of sustainable assessment methods highlighted the lack of a coherent definition and method for achieving this. This paper presents a framework for including societal benefits within a product portfolio management process and a prototype tool which aims to support the implementation of the framework within the toy industry, specifically on the societal benefit assessment of the products during the first stage. Finally a simulated case study of three toys is used to exemplify the intended application of this tool and to support the concluding discussions