Green Project
AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Hao Zhang for the degree of Master of Science in Industrial Engineering presented on May 16, 2012. Title: Integrating Sustainable Manufacturing Assessment into Decision Making for a Production work cell
Abstract approved: ________________________________________________________________ Karl R. Haapala Sustainability has been the focus of intense discussions over the past two decades, with topics around the entire product life cycle. In the manufacturing phase, research has been focused solely on environmental impact assessment or environmental impact and cost analysis in its assessment of sustainability. However, few efforts have investigated sustainable production decision making, where engineers are required to concurrently consider economic, environmental, and social impacts. An approach is developed to assess broader sustainability impacts by conducting economic assessment, environmental impact assessment, and social impact assessment at the work cell level. The results from the assessments are then integrated into a sustainable manufacturing assessment framework, along with a modified weighting method based on pairwise comparison and an outranking decision making method. The approach is illustrated for a representative machining work cell producing stainless steel knives. Economic, environmental, and social impact results are compared for three production scenarios
by applying the sustainable manufacturing assessment framework. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to study the robustness of the results. For future research, it is desired that a tool which integrates manufacturing information system information and the sustainable manufacturing assessment approach can be built to assist production engineers in considering sustainability performance when making decisions.
©Copyright by Hao Zhang May 16, 2012 All Rights Reserved
Integrating Sustainable Manufacturing Assessment into Decision Making for a Production Work
Abstract approved: ________________________________________________________________ Karl R. Haapala Sustainability has been the focus of intense discussions over the past two decades, with topics around the entire product life cycle. In the manufacturing phase, research has been focused solely on environmental impact assessment or environmental impact and cost analysis in its assessment of sustainability. However, few efforts have investigated sustainable production decision making, where engineers are required to concurrently consider economic, environmental, and social impacts. An approach is developed to assess broader sustainability impacts by conducting economic assessment, environmental impact assessment, and social impact assessment at the work cell level. The results from the assessments are then integrated into a sustainable manufacturing assessment framework, along with a modified weighting method based on pairwise comparison and an outranking decision making method. The approach is illustrated for a representative machining work cell producing stainless steel knives. Economic, environmental, and social impact results are compared for three production scenarios
by applying the sustainable manufacturing assessment framework. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to study the robustness of the results. For future research, it is desired that a tool which integrates manufacturing information system information and the sustainable manufacturing assessment approach can be built to assist production engineers in considering sustainability performance when making decisions.
©Copyright by Hao Zhang May 16, 2012 All Rights Reserved
Integrating Sustainable Manufacturing Assessment into Decision Making for a Production Work
Bibliography: ASK (2012). Online Resource. http://www.alphaknifesupply.com/bladesteel.htm Retrieved from: Avram, O., Stroud, I., & Xirouchakis, P