Industrial waste management within manufacturing: a comparative study of tools, policies, visions and concepts

Industrial waste is a key factor when assessing the sustainability of a manufacturing process or company. A multitude of visions, concepts, tools, and policies are used both academically and industrially to improve the environmental effect of manufacturing; a majority of these approaches have a direct bearing on industrial waste. The identified approaches have in this paper been categorised according to application area, goals, organisational entity, life cycle phase, and waste hierarchy stage; the approaches have also been assessed according to academic prevalence, semantic aspects, and overlaps. In many cases the waste management approaches have similar goals and approaches, which cause confusion and disorientation for companies aiming to synthesise their management systems to fit their waste management strategy. Thus, a study was performed on how waste management approaches can be integrated to reach the vision of zero waste in manufacturing

Production localization factors: an industrial and literature based review

Decision are commonly based on the available or easily accessible information; this is also true for more complex assessments like production localization. Where to locate production is often a key strategic decisions that has great impact on a company’s profitability for a long time; insufficient business intelligence may therefore have grave consequences. Six production localization factor studies have been assessed to see if they are focusing on the same issues and if there are any gaps. A new approach for structuring localization factors and the localization process is then presented and assessed with regards to some previously identified critical issues

System of Systems Characteristics in Production System Engineering

This thesis presents a systems view of production, where production systems are compared and contrasted with other large and complex systems, commonly labeled System of Systems (SoS). The rationale for this approach lies in the evolution of production systems towards being holistic, sustainable, and agile; which increases the need for an improved understanding of both how internal system are interrelated, and how the production system interacts with its environment. In turn, this leads to an increase of complexity for the production system, which leads to new requirements on systems engineering.The definition of SoS is extensively discussed, and in this thesis formalized with regards to certain system characteristics that SoS exhibit. The presence of these characteristics is evaluated for three different levels of production systems to determine if they should be considered SoS. In the second part of the thesis, the SoS characteristics are addressed from an engineering point of view, i.e. if and how SoS properties are currently addressed in production systems engineering.Two main results are presented in this thesis: (1) production systems exhibit SoS characteristics; (2) SoS characteristics are not and cannot be addressed with current systems engineering methods. How SoS characteristics can be addressed is briefly discussed in the frame of reference.An additional purpose of this thesis is to initiate a new research area where production systems research and complex systems research are merged.QC 2010062

Material efficiency in manufacturing: swedish evidence on potential, barriers and strategies

Improved material efficiency is a key to improve the circular economy and capturing value in industry. Material efficiency reduces the generation of industrial waste, the extraction and consumption of resources, and energy demands and carbon emissions. However, material efficiency in the manufacturing sector, as a means of improving the recyclability, reusability, reduction and prevention of industrial waste, is little understood. This study aims to investigate, on a micro-level, further material efficiency improvement opportunities, barriers and strategies in selected manufacturing companies in Sweden, focusing on increasing waste segregation into high quality circulated raw material. Improvement opportunities at large global manufacturing companies are investigated; barriers hindering material efficiency improvement are identified and categorized at two levels; and strategies that have been deployed at manufacturing companies are reviewed. Empirical findings reveal (1) further potential for improving material efficiency through higher segregation of residual material from mixed and low quality fractions (on average, 26% of the content of combustible waste, in weight, was plastics; 8% and 6% were paper and cardboard, respectively); (2) the most influential barriers are within budgetary, information, management, employee, engineering, and communication clusters; (3) a lack of actual material efficiency strategy implementation in the manufacturing companies. According to our analysis, the majority of barriers are internal and originate within the manufacturing companies, therefore they can be managed (and eradicated if possible) with sufficient resources in terms of man hours, education and investment, better operational and environmental (waste) management, better internal communication and information sharing, and deployment of material efficiency strategies

Material efficiency measurements in manufacturing: Swedish case studies

A major factor in the continued deterioration of the global environment is unsustainable management of resources that includes the type and quantity of resources consumed and manufactured as well as the subsequent generation and treatment of wasted materials. Improved material efficiency (ME) in manufacturing is key to reducing resource consumption levels and improving waste management initiatives. However, ME must be measured, and related goals must be broken down into performance indicators for manufacturing companies. This paper aims to improve ME in manufacturing using a structured model for ME performance measurements. We present a set of ME key performance indicators (ME-KPIs) at the individual company and lower operational levels based on empirical studies and a structured literature review. Our empirical findings are based on data collected on the performance indicators and material and waste flows of nine manufacturing companies located in Sweden. The proposed model categorizes ME-KPIs into the following categories: productive input materials, auxiliary input materials, output products, and residual output materials. These categories must be measured equally to facilitate the measurement, assessment, improvement and reporting of material consumption and waste generation in a manufacturing context. Required qualities for ME-KPI suggested in literature are also discussed, and missing indicators are identified. Most of the identified ME-KPIs measure quality- and cost-related factors, while end-of-life scenarios, waste segregation and the environmental effects of waste generation and material consumption are not equally measured. Additionally, ME-KPIs must also be connected to pre-determined goals and that defining or revising ME-KPIs requires communication with various external and internal actors to increase employees’ awareness and engagement

Production System And Material Efficiency Challenges For Large Scale Introduction Of Complex Materials

This paper links production system research to advanced material research for the vehicle industry. Facilitated by need for reduction of fuel use, the automotive industry is pushing a radical change from using steel structures to new mixed materials structures. In production systems optimised for steel, the changes will affect productivity and material efficiency. Four industrial case studies focusing on production economy and productivity give implications of production technology demands on the material selection regarding new joining techniques and additive or forming methods which has to be investigated when considering new materials. Material efficiency analysis shows that minimising spill in production operations and regulatory demand of recycling need to be considered in material development, which implies both design for disassembly, advanced separation processes and use of recycled raw materials. To be successful in new material introduction, new information flows and knowledge sharing moving from operations and manufacturing development to materials development and design are needed. The material developers could use axiomatic design strategies to structure the production system demands on the materials. State of the art lightweight producers in vehicle and automotive industry are likely early adopters to advanced lightweight structures with need of information flows between material development and operations