Characterizing Sustainability for Manufacturing Performance Assessment

Abstract

Manufacturing industries lack the measurement science and the needed information base to measure and effectively compare performance of manufacturing processes, resources and associated services with respect to sustainability. The current use of ad-hoc methods and tools to assess and describe sustainability of manufactured products do not account for manufacturing processes explicitly and hence results in inaccurate and ambiguous comparisons. Further, there are no formal methods for acquiring and exchanging information that help establish a consolidated sustainability information base. Our goal is to develop the needed measurement science and methodology that will enable manufacturers to evaluate sustainability performance of fundamental manufacturing processes ensuring reliable and consistent comparisons. In this paper, we propose and discuss a methodology for sustainability characterization to bridge the measurement science and the needed information base for sustainable manufacturing. This will set the stage for manufacturers to objectively assess and compare different manufacturing processes for sustainability.