Sustainable Design and Manufacturing 2016

The design of any industrial product requires a development process that takes time and implies costs. In order to increase the sustainability of this activity it is necessary to study and generate new methods and techniques for its optimization, supporting the designer with tools able to quickly allow him to choose the best product solution. This activity includes the implementation of tools that, by interacting with a CAD, can add further automatic operations as, for example, the optimisation of the model basing on the environment or, more generally, on the integration of some sustainable aspects by an automated process including an evaluation of the proposed product. The software SFIDA, Sailplane Fuselage Integrated Design Application, is a first attempt to implement a tool that complements CAD, collecting some of the key aspects of the design of a specific component, managing their relations and optimizing their combination; in particular, the chosen case study is the fuselage for a single-seat glider. The use of this application allows designers to save time as it offers the possibility to quickly operate on a wide set of parameters that define the target product, leading to different models among which the best one can be chosen. A further advantage is the opportunity to modify the design of the object at each step of the process without affecting the consistency of the entire model and quickly visualizing several possible solutions. The concept of SFIDA can be applied to different products and domains giving the possibility of further development and improvement. This tool can therefore be considered a significant upgrade of any CAD system used to design industrial products. In particular, this approach is suitable when the object dimension and shape can be affected by limits and constraints deriving from different features and targets, such as the spatial collocation of the component and the interaction with other elements.

To address the issue that traditional and single design methods cannot resolve modern conflict problems quickly and effectively, which have become increasingly complex, we propose a new method for analysis and resolution of conflict based on integrating the extension and TRIZ methods. First, we summarize research on integrating the extension and TRIZ methods and then we analyze and build models for their transformation. In this way we can unite the strict reasoning ability of the extension method with the abundant practical experience of TRIZ to resolve conflict problems. To verify the correctness and feasibility of the proposed method, we apply it to the problem of reducing the noise of a screw compressor.

This paper presents eco-innovation as the means of harmonizing economic activities with environmental resilience. Several agents and factors are involved with generation and diffusion of eco-innovations; nevertheless, the role performed by the state, as an inducer of eco-innovation, is crucial. Little is known about the role played by governments in promoting eco-innovations. This work investigates the influence of regulations in generating eco-innovation in Brazil, through a statistical analysis originated by an unprecedented survey carried out with 98 Brazilian enterprises. Results suggest that regulations are keen on promoting organizational and process innovations, with incremental impacts and internalizing environmental externalities that are no longer tolerable by the government. A high number of regulatory-pushed eco-innovations were generated using economic mechanisms, such as funding and subsidies and came out of cooperative arrangements, mostly with suppliers. Regulations could also be influencing high-impact eco-innovations, opening up opportunities to suppliers of cleaner products and services.

The present paper reports on an investigation of new mobility and manufacturing concepts, carried out in the framework of a research project funded by the Regional Government of Campania for an innovative development of the automotive supply chain. With reference to a new concept of sustainability that involves citizens and communities, the scenario depicted is characterised by an integrated innovation that affects people, new technologies and, generally speaking, as well as by the appearance of alternative models generated by individuals and by the small production realities scattered across the territory. Just like the manufacturing industry is increasingly moving towards new forms of production, the mobility sector is also undergoing deep transformations. It is with this approach of radical renewal that the present research tries to re-imagine the new systems of interaction and involvement of users—co-designed models, and digital manufacturing modes leading to the efficiency of services and production processes in the automotive sector.

In order to cope with the challenges of sustainability, systematic methods have been developed for improving the ratio between usefulness and environmental impact of products. These necessary efforts are however constrained if the surrounding business model patterns are not challenged at the same time. In this article, open source design (OSD) is presented as a potential concept leading towards alternative and eco-efficient production and consumption patterns. Potential advantages of OSD for environmental sustainability are hypothesized and confronted with the analysis of the environmental friendliness of four open source products. Two synergies between sustainable design and OSD are identified (product modularity and design for local manufacturing) as well as corresponding challenges for further research.

In the last few years, the circular economy has attracted increasing attention as a way to overcome the problems of the current production and consumption model based on continuous growth and increasing resource throughput. A circular economy is an industrial system that is restorative or regenerative by intention and design. Although supply chains are the key unit of action in the change towards a circular economy, the academic literature on supply chain management approaches in a circular economy is very much in its infancy. However, two distinct literature streams, namely sustainable supply chain management and product service systems, seem to offer valuable insights into the investigation of supply chain management in a circular economy. The aim of this paper is to analyse the main characteristics and challenges of supply chain management in a circular economy and identify how these two literature streams can contribute to researching it.

This research analysed how sustainability impacts innovation in industry. Qualitative data was collected during interviews with employees from seven companies founded on sustainability principles. The data includes numerous examples of successful and unsuccessful sustainable design and manufacturing initiatives. Research findings indicate that improved packaging, eco-efficiency and the exploration of more sustainable solutions for standard products are fuelled by companies’ sustainability principles and successfully drive innovation. Whereas the supply of sustainable materials and trade-offs between sustainability and desirable material properties, as well as costs, represent challenges which can hinder innovation.

As awareness on fashion’s impact on our world is growing, there are key leaders in the industry who are beginning to question the impacts of the model built on careless production and endless consumption. 3D Virtual Prototype, 3D visualization, 3D Body Scanning and virtual try-on technology solving the proper-fit problem, while providing efficiency in its supply chain, can help the clothing sector meet green targets, without damaging the environment through wasteful manufacturing processes. Concepts of CSR and Collective actions on Sustainability are being explored within the apparel sector. Authors examine the challenges, the threats and the opportunities across the supply chain partners emerging to reduce the environmental footprint. A new fully integrated product development model is proposed, with 3D virtual simulation of design concepts on mannequins that represent the target market of the company with digital fit models based on accurate input size data.

Improving industrial ovens is an important objective for sustainable manufacturing due to their significant energy consumption and impact on final product quality. A generic approach for sustainable oven development is presented that focuses on reducing the environmental impact of the oven and manufacturing superior product. The approach focuses on developing product understanding, process improvement and process parameter optimisation. An application example for an oven is presented, in which understanding of cure was developed to highlight how temperature variation affects product quality. This led onto process improvements that developed temperature uniformity and system responsiveness by lowering the thermal mass of the oven structure; resulting in 89 % reduction in heating and cooling times respectively, saving 202 h of annual downtime. Process parameter optimisation was applied and saves 25 % of natural gas consumption per year. The approach is flexible and can be replicated throughout the manufacturing industry.

The use of a novel method to exploit energy savings potentials in production processes of textile industry has been applied to the air-jet weaving technology. Energy efficiency is taken as central property in the design process and it represents a new requirement/property to be defined in the phase of design problem/task definition. In contradiction with established methodologies, the approach includes an initial analysis of existing technical systems and the individuation and classification of their prior and relevant energy consumers (sub-systems and processes). The identified major consumers and processes are afterwards systematically addressed to reduce their energy consumption: interaction of the relay nozzle flow field with the profiled reed. A following analysis step consists in the verification of the system design, predicting and evaluating the system behavior using several tools (e.g. finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics simulations, experimental analyses, etc.). Since nowadays products become more and more multi-disciplinary by the constantly increasing integration of added functionality and product intelligence and since energy is a global design attribute which is influenced by all disciplines, the development of energy analysis methodologies, both numerical and experimental, able to decrease the environmental impact and to keep constant the machine performance requires an integrated research strategy. Therefore in next air jet weaving machine generations, the design process should move from a purely performance and capacity driven approach to an approach that includes energy efficiency as a key parameter.

Electrical energy consumption forms 99 % of the environmental impact of machining operations. Whilst replacing existing machineries for more energy efficient ones does not deem possible in short term, process planning for machining with energy consumption in mind is a more accessible solution. The effect of cutting parameters on power consumption in CNC milling of 6082 T6 aluminum alloy was investigated in this paper. Mathematical models were developed to estimate the energy and power consumption in CNC milling machines. The analysis indicated that the two less studied parameters of axial and radial depth of cut have significant impact on the total energy consumption of machining processes. Increased axial and radial depth of cut not only increase material removal rate but also increase the portion of machine tool’s power consumption dedicated to material cutting. This study indicated that 82 % reduction in energy consumption can be achieved through precise selection of cutting parameters.

In the perspective of energy saving, the power consumption in the process of CNC (Computer numerical control) machining is closely related to the environmental issues. Therefore, it is especially important to optimize the cutting parameters to reduce the power consumption. In this paper, the power consumption which is determined by the cutting parameters in the face milling process of a cast iron alloy is researched. First, characteristics of machine tool power consumption were studied and the relationship between power consumption and cutting forces was described qualitatively. Secondly, a power consumption monitoring system was built to monitor and record the power consumption in real time during a face milling process. Secondly, according to central composite design (CCD), a total of 27 experiments were carried out to reveal the relationship between the power consumption and process parameters. Finally, the milling parameters were optimized by means of response surface methodology (RSM). The results indicate that the power consumption of P_M and P_Y can be saved by 38.55 and 28.23 % under the cutting condition of optimized parameters, and the surface quality is insured simultaneously.

For the first time New Active Cross-Linking agents (ACL) have been tested to process hides, demonstrating the possibility to produce good quality leather with a highly sustainable protocol. A comparison is made between ACL, chrome and other tanning agents commonly employed by the Leather Industry. In particular, ACL have been demonstrated to be the first tanning agents which leave no trace inside the skin producing totally non toxic tanned leather.

Energy management in small to medium enterprises (SMEs) remains undeveloped due to competing priorities and a lack of specialist knowledge. However considerable savings can be demonstrated where companies take the time to investigate their energy use and the specific production drivers that influence it. Savings of over 20 % can be achieved through changes to operational and behavioural practice. Additional benefits, such as improved production tracking and improved maintenance, can been seen which add to the value in undertaking an energy monitoring and targeting (M&T) plan. The method described involve the analysis of overall energy use from utility bills and the visualisation of power profiles to aid in understanding the drivers of energy consumption. The monitoring of specific machines in production highlights the significant consumption of electricity during non-productive times. The development of specific energy performance indicators (EnPIs) are described for product variations which can be useful in tendering for business and selecting optimum production pathways. The approach is illustrated with data from a case study of a precision engineering SME based in Limerick, Ireland.

Industrial Symbiosis can help improve the overall efficiency of the industrial system. The positive impact of implementing symbiotic exchanges between companies would benefit their host region through increased job creation and reduced environmental stress, whilst the entities engaged could benefit from a combination of additional revenue streams and reduced costs. However, in spite of the potential benefits of IS, there remains an implementation gap, with practitioners failing to fully exploit the possibilities of IS. The objective of this article is to provide a review of the current state of IS research in order to unlock current gaps of knowledge and practice, and identify research opportunities which will help close the implementation gap. The final aim is to explore and understand the areas practitioners willing to engage with IS need to consider in order to operationalize IS in their network.

There is an increasing need to recover value from products from their end of use and end of life phase as a result of issues of mitigating against resource scarcity, increasing legislation and emerging business models. Reverse logistics is a core process for recovery. There are economic and environmental drivers for such an activity. The challenge for industry is the absence of models to support the development of reverse logistics operations. This absence is both in practice and in the literature. Here we develop generic archetypes for the reverse logistics activity that capture the common structure and the main. The work has been developed through adopting supply chain structures in literature and interviews with industrial experts. The three main archetypes developed here are: low value extended producer responsibility, service parts logistics, and advanced industrial products recovery. The reverse logistics archetypes definition will help firms to identify their key drivers for their reverse logistics structure and help to plan the activities within this process.

Contemporary business environment is characterized by a high level of dynamics development and by competitive advantage. There is an increasing demand on both living environment protection and effective management of supply chains of particular industries. Supply chains have been becoming more complex and bulkier in the light of streaming material flows. One of the bases of a long-term socio-economic development of society in current global business environment is effective planning, management and control of bulky material flows of supply chains. Company’s management systems and also manufacturing management systems should be based on a forecasting subsystem of an independent demand or consumption. An accurate demand forecast enables adequate production of final products, parts, etc., although there is no overproduction or shortage. In final consequence the manufacturing systems based on progressive forecasting subsystems represent one of the main parts of supply chains in context of living environment protection and long-term sustainable development—thus the production or material flows are adequate within particular regional or global supply chains. This article deals with current issues of effective manufacturing systems of supply chains based on prognostic subsystems of independent demand or consumption.

Water is a key resource for all life. Recent droughts have also exemplified the importance for manufacturers to understand their impact on water resources. While most manufacturers typically know the amount of water they use in their facilities, they have little knowledge about the indirect effects they have on water resources. In this paper, the indirect impact from electricity use by automakers on water resources is examined. Water withdrawal and consumption from electricity use by hypothetical but representative facilities around the world is quantified and analyzed. The results indicate that the water withdrawal and consumption caused by the use of electricity is larger than the direct water use and consumption in the facilities themselves.

This paper presents the results from a survey of emerging and micro SMEs, along with entrepreneurs, creative practitioners, and the new group of ‘makers’, who are beginning to adopt (or consider adopting) the newer entry-level emergent technologies such as 3D printing. A number of key findings are discussed: including, the prevalence of ‘self-taught’ users of these technologies; major business activity in the creative industry space; the importance of shared equipment usage by micro organisations in comparison to small companies using external bureau services. Unsurprisingly cost is still cited as a factor for poor uptake of emergent technologies, closely followed by a low awareness of 3D printing and its capabilities, and 3D printing supply chains. Skill levels reported by the participants for each technology highlighted that 3D printing had the most pro-users, which may highlight the increased access to such technologies for micro enterprises, typically reserved for incumbent organisations.

Industrial Ecology hypothesizes that networks of industries designed to be analogous to the structure and properties of food webs may approach a similarly sustainable and efficient state. Although ecology is the metaphor for designing Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs), prior research has shown that IEPs are inferior in performance compared to natural ecosystems. One EIP design approach is to enlarge EIPs by combining two or more synergistic networks to create a larger, and hopefully more successful, synergistic mega-network. An quantitative analysis using ecosystem metrics is presented in this paper in order to test the potential of this approach.

Implementing and managing the consequences of design change in the context of complex products is challenging. Design changes generate significant volumes of information and product management is becoming increasingly information intensive. It is now critically important that information and communication technology solutions are engineered to support through life product design management processes and the management models used to guide decision making. The purpose of this paper is to describe the prominent challenges of providing through life product management and the nature of information architectures needed to enable efficiency improvements. Actions that need to be taken to make progress are proposed.

Sustainable development is about reaching a balance between economic, social, and environmental goals, as well as people’s participation in the planning process in order to gain their input and support. For a foundry, sustainable development means adoption of strategy and actions that contribute to higher yield with a minimum environmental impact. This new approach forces foundries to change their behavior. Management should include new issues and develop innovative methods, practices and technologies striving for solving problem of shortages of resources in particular energy. Hence, its realization requires updating existing production models. The main message of sustainability for foundries is to expand the range of analysis and focusing on processes. Lean thinking offers numerous opportunities for more efficient resources utilization. Here some energy saving methods toward a more efficient and a sustainable foundry are briefly discussed.

As manufacturing operations become increasingly sustainable and seek to evolve towards paradigms such as Industry 4.0 and the Smart Factory, the importance of process control becomes paramount. Strictly controlling manufacturing processes improves production efficiency and this can be supported by Electronic Batch Record Systems (EBRS). This study examines this concept in terms of existing literature, and through a case study that explored the implementation of an EBRS at a Life Science manufacturing company, focusing on practical implications of EBRS adoption. The main advantage identified was a 75 % decrease in human errors in batch records, compared to a hardcopy system, thereby yielding improvements in production efficiency. The main disadvantages were cost, implementation resources and the in-built obsolescence of manufacturing software systems. Despite these disadvantages, the company found that implementation of EBRS resulted in a significant increase in production efficiency.

The purpose of this research is to present a new method for integrating sustainable design knowledge into the early design phase of new products and processes. A novel organized search tree is constructed to enable the application of sustainable design knowledge before and during concept generation. To further facilitate its application, this search tree is embedded in an easy-to-use web-based application called the GREEn Quiz (Guidelines and Regulations for Early design for the Environment). As a designer progresses through the quiz, user responses are compiled and weighted, and a final environmental impact report is provided to the user. Two research studies are explored to validate the proposed method. The results of these studies show that the search-tree format and presentation of the collection of design knowledge presented in this work provide design engineers with a valuable and informative resource for facilitating the design of products with reduced environmental impacts.

This paper outlines how the economic and environmental sustainability of SMEs in particular can be improved by ensuring that their manufactured product’s Sustainable Life Cycle Costs (SLCC) are minimised. It advocates that this may be achieved through the correct use of Manufacturing Management Informatics (MMI), initially to ensure the correct selection of engineering materials and subsequently for product-manufacturing system—process—recycling design. By adopting such an approach, which in essence employs Flexible Integrated Technology (FIT) it is proposed that a company can not only achieve a significant reduction in their operational costs but also establish a lasting improvement in their productivity, competitive position, economic and environmental sustainability and overall profitability. Within the paper, a proposed methodology for achieving minimum sustainable life cycle costs is outlined. This emphasises the requirement for and correct use of manufacturing management informatics in product, manufacturing system, process and recycling design, to ensure efficient low cost sustainable manufacture. A case study is included, which assesses the effectiveness of the approach proposed by utilising a comparative before and after example in a construction industry SME. This indicates how the proposed methodology can be implemented in an incremental and concurrent manner via the use of existing concepts, strategies, innovative thinking and suitable manufacturing management informatics software.

Business experimentation is a key avenue for accelerating change for sustainability. In contrast to experimentation in natural sciences, benefitting from controlled situations, business experimentation aims to explore the diverse possibilities that a business could create value from, or understand what works in which particular situations in a real life business context. While at present most popular with start-ups, this paper argues that large businesses can also find inspiration in business experimentation to develop sustainable business models and accelerate positive change for sustainability. Five illustrative cases are included of business experimentation for sustainability by focusing on pivots (modifications) in the business model. This paper only scratches the surface of the potential impactful new research field of business (model) experimentation for sustainability. Future work on sustainable business experimentation for start-ups and mature businesses is viewed as a powerful future research avenue to accelerate change in industries.

This paper explores measurement of product performance with respect to circular economy principles. Potential indicators are assessed, with special attention given to questions such as: the variables that should be measured; how these variables should be assessed; and in which format they should be presented. The resulting considerations are used to develop a prototype whose design is informed through feedback from Circular Economy experts. The prototype uses a points-based questionnaire which converges into a simple final result with minimum and maximum limits. The selected approach is critically appraised, and its utility for decision-making discussed. The strengths include: ease of use; simplicity; speed; and an effective metaphor for the diffusion of circular economy principles. The limitations include: the opaque and potentially misleading nature of a single metric; superficial engagement with decision making; and the reliance on context specific assumptions. Future developments could include refining the approach to encourage deeper reflection, and generalization of the approach to different industry sectors or sustainability frameworks.

Sustainable Manufacturing (SM) and Integrated Product Development (IPD) have both been identified as important drivers of an organization’s competitiveness and agility. However, their multi-faceted nature requires organizations to make manufacturing decisions without compromising any of the pillars contained within SM (economy, environment and society) and IPD (product, production and business). Achieving the aims of both IPD and SM increases this complexity even further and results in the need for high-level tools and systems for decision-making. This paper presents the use of digital factory simulation, as a tool to support the integrated development of sustainable products and processes. To evaluate this approach, a case study involving an existing manufacturing line was performed. The aim of the study was to generate a platform for the testing of experimental scenarios giving predictive results on the impact of IPD decisions on the manufacturing sustainability of the process. Together with the limitations and difficulties encountered, the validity and feasibility of using digital factory simulation for the integrated development of sustainable products and processes is discussed.

This study is concerned with the lifecycle impact and cost of lightweight design for Electric Vehicles (EVs). The applicability of novel materials, bio-composite and fiber reinforced thermoset matrix primarily, and related innovative manufacturing technologies, is evaluated for some relevant modules of vehicle. The study is part of the ENLIGHT European project that aims to advance highly innovative lightweight materials and technologies for application in structural vehicle parts of future volume produced (EVs) along four axes: performance, manufacturability, cost and lifecycle footprint. The preliminary results showed that, for the specific studies, material production and manufacturing represent the most critical life-cycle phases from environmental and economic point of view respectively. The trade-off between impacts of production and use phase needs to be faced by means of detailed analysis when EVs lightweight solutions are proposed.

This paper presents a new multi-criteria decision-making method, which is called the Characteristic Objects method, in the field of sustainable manufacturing. This approach is an alternative for AHP, TOPSIS, ELECTRE or PROMETHEE methods. The paper presents the possibility of using the COMET method for sustainable manufacturing. For this purpose, a brief review of the literature is shown. Then the COMET method is presented in detail. At the end of the paper, a simple problem is solved by using the COMET method.

The aim of this article is to present the framework for dynamic suppliers’ evaluation and selection. The proposed framework defines input information together with a methodological background required for decision support processes. Authors suggest using the multi-criteria decision-analysis (MCDA) methodology to propose a dynamic approach. Therefore, the fuzzy TOPSIS method has been selected as a method that provides the ability to aggregate numerical and linguistic data, which are obtained from various inputs. After discussions on a framework outline, an empirical study is given. The presented problem concerns the selection of a supplier for the company producing cable bundles. Finally, a ranking for 25 vendors (for 12 periods) is obtained as a result, which facilitates the diversification of supplies for the discussed company.

A number of design rules must be adhered to in the development and manufacturing of unmanned aerial vehicles. In this, additive manufacturing, particularly in the implementation of requirements with respect to light-weight construction and sustainability, offers several advantages compared to conventional manufacturing methods. Therefore, this article will primarily introduce and compare current concepts for sustainable design using additive manufacturing. These will, above all, consist of the production of complete fuselages and wings by means of rapid prototyping or also rapid tooling. In addition, a new concept will be introduced in which a UAV using AM can be implemented through the combination of very light components and a preferably resource-saving manufacturing method. In this process, a three-dimensional spaceframe is used in combination with a covering in the construction of the wing. Hereby, the development process for sustainable design using additive manufacturing will be analyzed and the results will be explained by means of concrete case studies. In conclusion, the results of these case studies will be compared to the latest technology regarding wing span load.

This paper focusses on demonstrating the effectiveness of our new code at producing curved, formerly planar structures that comprise complex internal architecture. This development is particularly significant as it will, ultimately, allow further exploitation of the design freedom offered by additive manufacturing (AM). This particular application focusses on head impact protection, and builds upon our previous work describing the promising mechanical performance that can be achieved by parametrically varying cellular shape, wall thicknesses and relative densities (Soe in Second international conference on sustainable design and manufacturing, 2015 [1]). In this current work, we explore the translation of these design concepts into application-based environments, focusing particularly on achieving structural contours whilst retaining mechanical performance. This paper aims to demonstrate our success at contouring previously-planar structures around hemispherical (‘head’) geometry, whilst retaining mechanical performance through the relative alignment of individual cellular structures. We first evaluate the capabilities of existing packages: (1) PTC Creo Parametric (mechanical CAD system) and, (2) Materialise 3-maticSTL (lightweight structures module); before demonstrating the effectiveness of our new script embedded within Autodesk 3D Studio Max. We conclude by comparing results from our script with equivalent data from the commercially-available software.

Ti6Al4 V (Ti64) lattice structures manufactured using selective laser melting (SLM) have been used in fields such as aerospace and medical science due to their exceptional light weight, corrosion-resistant capability and biocompatibility. In this study, the mechanical properties of octahedral-type Ti64 lattice structures under quasi-static loading conditions was investigated. The initial stiffness, ultimate strength and ductility of the structures with different aspect ratios were evaluated and compared using experiments and quasi-static finite element analysis (FEA). The results demonstrated that the experimental data and FEA were in good agreement. The initial stiffness and strength of the octahedral lattice structures improved significantly as the strut aspect ratios decreased; however, the poor ductility evident in all the samples showed no obvious relationship to the aspect ratios, which means that the geometrical sizes had little effect on the brittle behaviour of the Ti64 lattice structures fabricated using SLM.

Additive manufacturing (AM) technology is enabling a platform to produce parts with enhanced shape complexity. Design engineers are exploiting this capability to produce high performance functional parts. The current top-down approach to design for AM requires the designer to develop a design model in CAD software and then use optimization tools to adapt the design for the AM technology, however this approach neglects a number of desired criteria. This paper proposes an alternative bottom-up design framework for a new type of CAD tool which combines the knowledge required to design a part with evolutionary programming in order to design parts specifically for the AM platform.

Additive manufacturing (AM) presents a very different set of design challenges to traditional manufacturing. Layer-wise building brings about issues with residual stresses and support requirements which lead to failures during processing of poorly-designed parts. Additionally, there is a need for post-processing due to poor part quality, which adds another process to the chain with its own unique design limitations. This paper discusses the issues surrounding designing for AM and the subsequent post-processing. A future vision is proposed for the selection of post-processes and the relative design adjustments to accommodate the chosen techniques. A decision tree is presented as a framework for process selection based on part requirements. Although at present, the data necessary to realize this vision is incomplete, with further research into the capabilities and design constraints of different post-processes, this approach could provide a systematic method for integrating design for post-processing with AM design.

Manufacturing simulation is important to build understanding of a process. It is especially useful for learning about AM processes that are time consuming, expensive, and may have an environmental impact. Generating or modifying explicit meshed geometry during a simulation can be a computationally expensive task. Other geometric representations, such as implicit surfaces, make these types of topographical transformations easier and may be more suited to making as-manufactured models from simulations. Here, it is shown that signed distance fields are a flexible and efficient representation format for AM process simulation. The suitability of ray marching for the visualisation of these geometries is also shown. These simulation techniques enable quick feedback from design or process plan modifications to geometric model validation.

The agri-food industry in Taiwan is facing many challenges, e.g. low level of food self-sufficiency due to small scale lands and ageing farmers, natural disasters accelerated by climate change. A case study of a mushroom trading company in Taiwan is presented. Face-to face semi-structured interviews, collection of company’s documents and field observations were carried out to study the volatilities from the supply side, demand side, macro environment and structural problems. The unpredictable changes or risks that cause the volatilities in agri-food supply chain are identified, also their effects on the company’s performance. Finally, some recommendations are provided to the company for developing a better strategy for mitigating the effects of such volatilities.

The natural-resource-based-view (NRBV) is positively presented in literature as a competitive approach to sustainable operations. In spite of this the theory has struggled to transition into industry; something which academics attribute to a lack of practical guidance and ill-defined capabilities. The purpose this study is to identify NRBV capabilities. This is done via review of seminal NRBV studies and exploration of a synergistic relationship with SSCM, permitting the identification of potentially relevant capabilities. Dynamic capabilities theory is then applied to categorize the capabilities and further enhance applicability. A qualitative multiple-interview methodological approach is employed to empirically investigate the capabilities within the context of the Scottish agri-food sector.

This research studies the supplier selection process in a company in the Chinese Dairy Industry. The literature review includes the food supply chain, the frameworks and models of supplier selection, the selection methods and sourcing strategies. A case study methodology including seven interviews with managers and employees was carried out. This paper discusses the similarities and differences between the research findings and literature review. It suggests the company extends the time period of the field trips to visit its potential suppliers, in order to obtain sufficient and reliable information for conducting supplier selection processes.

This study explores the risks management in the dairy supply chain in China. Using a single case study methodology, semi-structured interviews with different supply chain experts working in the dairy company were conducted. Through the interviews, data was gathered about the supply chain network of the dairy company, managers’ understanding of supply chain risks management, and risks inherent in the dairy supply chain. In general, the company has the awareness of supply chain risks and it has created an ‘organic economy business model’ which reflects its concept of supply chain risk management. However, at the operational level, the company does not have any supply chain risks management program. By following the Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) framework, the risks identified in the supply chain have been assessed and prioritized. Some recommendations have been given to mitigate the high priority risks.

Interest in sustainable supply chains has been rapidly growing for over a decade with an increased pressure to all parties of the agrifood supply chains to deal effectively with food safety and quality issues as well as minimize social and environmental impact. Aquaculture is a neglected research area, although it is recognized as one of the most promising, though also controversial new industries. This paper utilizes a single-case study, action research to examine how sustainability can be promoted on operational level. More specifically, the study analyses a project developed by one of the biggest companies in the Mediterranean, concerning the strategic supply chain re-design towards reducing lead times from production to consumption. The impressive improvements in terms of lead time and cost savings and the conclusions and recommendations drawn in this study are expected to reveal the direction for further research towards integration of aquaculture development with the sustainability imperatives.

The QFD methodology, in spite of being quite old, it is not widespread and tested in the Italian ecosystem, in particular in SME networks. In this paper we report our experience in the application of the QFD to a SME network in the wood sector, with the aim to improve the competitiveness and innovation capacity, and prefiguring a new way to collaborate in business relationships, finally increasing sustainably through a short supply chain; through the experience we highlight the QFD potentialities, as tested by the SME network in the definition and development of the first PEFC certificated musical instrument.

The intended goal of the publication is to evaluate the relevancy of tools originating from TRIZ to integrate transitional representations in an eco-design process. It is expected that TRIZ tools could allow the project team to take into account all the identified constraints regardless of the discipline they are coming from. The methodology aims at providing solutions which fulfill the different perspectives (engineering and industrial design) without trade-offs. To do so, transitional representation during early design phases must enable the integration of multiple idealities in the context of multidisciplinary product design process.

Several Ecodesign methods can be found in literature, though none has ever really established itself industrially. On the other hand there is a plethora of methods for problem solving which do not necessarily produce greener solutions. Among these, the most promising is the TRIZ methodology for inventive problem solving. TRIZ is not meant for Ecodesign, but recently more and more eco-applications can be found in the literature. This paper aims at providing a new interpretive key of the TRIZ methodology from an environmental point of view, to distinguish which tools and principles are readily applicable to Ecodesign from those that need to be customized. A detailed analysis of the best-known tools of the methodology applied to Ecodesign is presented, as well as how they have been integrated into a single operational tool called i-Tree.

The application of an integrated eco-design decision making tool is presented as a case study considering the design of an office chair base. This study brings together the analysis of factors relating to manufacturing processes, product usage and end-of-life strategy to demonstrate the operation of an eco-design case-based reasoning tool. This is shown to meet the requirement of the data storage, retrieval and re-use. A framework is provided to facilitate the application of sustainability criteria in the early design phase in a context with which designers are familiar. Such consideration can be made more understandable and relevant as more information is added. This makes all aspects of the process more rewarding for the participants and increases considerations of sustainability.

Having environmental indications such as those provided by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), while designing a product would reduce the time required by the trial-and-error approach resulting from environmental checks only at the end of the process, directing the development towards more sustainable solutions from the beginning. To achieve this, the design and environmental analysis should be more integrated, as well as the respective tools. The project idea discussed in this paper aims to overcome this barrier by defining an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) structure designed to carry Life Cycle Inventory data from Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools to Life Cycle Assessment tool. The idea is to exploit overlapping data between the CAD system and LCA instruments, which are currently not being considered. This process will contribute to the reduction of time required for data input and the amount of mistakes.

This paper uses an integrative literature review to explore the concept of re-distributed manufacturing and the opportunities to deliver more regenerative and resilient systems of production and consumption through the application of circular innovation. The study identified multiple similarities between the drivers of re-distributed and circular models of production and consumption that could be fostered by the use of digital intelligence. A set of criteria for redistributed manufacturing and circular innovation were developed and used to identify 33 existing case studies of consumer goods production. Case study analysis resulted in the identification of three types of re-distributed manufacturing that integrated characteristics of circular innovation. The paper concludes by describing some of the future research challenges in the transition towards re-distributed and circular models of production.

Redistributed manufacturing is an emerging concept which captures the anticipated reshoring and localisation of production from large scale mass manufacturing plants to smaller-scale localised, customisable production units, largely driven by new digital production technologies. Critically, community-based digital fabrication workshops, or makespaces, are anticipated to be one hothouse for this new era of localised production and as such are key to future sustainable design and manufacturing practices. In parallel, the concept of the circular economy conceptualises the move from a linear economy of take-make-waste to a closed loop system, through repair, remanufacturing, and recycling to ultimately extend the value of products and materials. Despite the clear interplay between redistributed manufacturing and circular economy, there is limited research exploring this relationship. In light of these interconnected developments, the aim of this paper is to explore the role of makespaces in contributing to a circular economy through redistributed manufacturing activities. This is achieved through six semi-structured interviews with thought leaders on these topics. The research findings identify barriers and opportunities to both circular economy and redistributed manufacturing, uncover overlaps between circular economy and redistributed manufacturing, and identify a range of future research directions that can support the coming together of these areas. The research contributes to a wider conversation on embedding circular practices within makespaces and their role in redistributed manufacturing.

Sustainability in all its guises is important for the long term continuance of manufacturing. The ideas of local sustainability and resilience have become increasing popular topics for study. The drive for economic resilience is causing governments to look at regional strategies to improve economic sustainability and resilience. A recent example of this is the establishment of a Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) in Wales. This exploratory study takes an initial look at the resilience of manufacturing in the CCR vis-à-vis economic resilience using the FAME dataset and QuiScore measure. Results indicate that on the whole manufacturing looks broadly healthy. However, some potential areas of concern were identified, many of the biggest and healthiest companies are not headquartered in the CCR, whereas 98 % of the weakest companies are, and there are inter and intra sectorial differences. The study also suggests that measures such as QuiScore should perhaps not be used in isolation as its methodology is unknown and a large number of companies do not have QuiScores.

Re-distributed manufacturing (RDM) has the potential to be beneficial to business and society through creating jobs, reducing the environmental impacts of production, and improving organizational and societal resilience to future disturbances. The potential impacts of RDM for a city-region are complex and their exploration requires the consideration of a wide range of issues—societal, technical, logistical, and environmental. This paper discusses the use of an approach called Integrated Assessment to carry out an initial scoping of the issues. A research framework for RDM, and the key themes from a workshop that explored the causal relationships between different types of resilience, sustainability, and the manufacturing sectors are presented.

The Local Nexus Network is addressing the intersection of two important emerging research areas, re-distributed manufacturing and the food-energy-water nexus. It is an on-going initiative which aims to develop an evidence-based comprehensive research agenda and foster an inclusive community of researchers and stakeholders for sustainable local food-energy-water nexuses. This paper presents the conceptual framing for understanding the challenges of local nexus, reports empirical findings around a particular case study, and makes initial reflections on the research and practical challenges and opportunities.

Through reasonable modular decomposition of the tasks in life circle of aircraft development, a modular hierarchical structure of the aircraft development is established. According to the modular hierarchical structure, multilevel maturity in the development process is proposed. The maturity in the aircraft development is divided into N levels and the relationship between them is built, which make the maturity management more complete and unified. Then a comprehensive evaluation method of multilevel maturity is proposed by using the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method combined with the multilevel maturity structure. Modular structure, multilevel maturity and multilevel maturity evaluation constitute the multilevel maturity model. Finally, an application case of the aircraft development process is given to illustrate the validity of the multilevel maturity model.

Economy, environment and society are the three pillars of sustainability. Sustainability assessment is a critical tool for analyzing and improving sustainability performance of manufacturing systems. However, most previous research has either focused exclusively on the environmental dimension, or considered the three pillars together, thus being too broad in social indicators. Research gaps exist in studies on the social dimension of sustainability. This paper presents a social sustainability assessment framework from the perspective of ergonomics. The proposed assessment framework consists of three aspects, i.e., work task, work environment and human-machine interaction. A novel weighted Mamdani fuzzy inference system (FIS) is designed to obtain a social sustainability score, which is further translated into a social sustainability index.

The purpose of this paper is to put forward a new cloud manufacturing (CMfg) service-oriented platform for Group Enterprises (GEs), providing high-efficiency and intelligent manufacturing services by organizing isolated manufacturing resources in a collaborative manner. Relevant research has rarely focused on a general services platform and application model oriented at GEs. Incorporating the thought of cellular manufacturing, a new service-oriented platform for GEs is proposed in this paper. The core running process is critical for the development of the serviced-oriented platform. Finally, simulation by using Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) and MySQL proved the feasibility and practicability of the platform for GEs.

The energy model of CNC worm wheel grinding machine tools is an important basis of the analysis of energy consumption characteristics and energy optimization. In this paper, the multi-source energy flows are divided into four parts that are main driving system, feeding system, grinding wheel dressing system and auxiliary system for the structural features of CNC worm wheel grinding machine tools. The mathematical model of multi-source energy flows is established based on the analysis of energy flow balance equation of the four parts. The energy flow models play an important supporting role in the evaluation of energy utilization effect and factors affecting energy consumption, prediction of energy consumption and optimization of energy saving.

This paper aims at extracting and selecting suitable fault features to assess the damage status of planetary gearbox based on simulated and experimental signals. A nonlinear dynamic model of a two-stage planetary gear set is established. For this model, an improved potential energy method is used to calculate the time-varying gear mesh stiffness considering the influence of different crack levels in the sun gear of the second stage. Then, several fault features are provided to assess the crack propagation levels based on the simulated signals. Afterwards, the change percentages of these statistical indicators are compared for evaluating the sensitivity of each fault feature. Finally, the actual vibration data collected from an industrial planetary gearbox with pitting and broken tooth damages are provided to validate the theoretical derivations.