The increase of sustainability in cylinder manufacturing

To satisfy the needs of a demanding and competitive market, Amtrol-Alfa decided to allocate its resources in a new innovative composite cylinder. The CoMet cylinder consists of a thin steel inner liner, wrapped in a commingled glass and polypropylene fibre inside a plastic jacket, which exceeded our expectations. Safety and environment are on the top of Amtrol-Alfa’s priorities. As such, the manufacturing of the CoMet cylinder has no dangerous emissions to the environment, in comparison with thermoset traditional processes, and uses inert products such as PP and HDPE. Regarding recyclability, the steel can be reprocessed, the commingled fibres can be chopped and used in injection processes, including the HDPE exterior jacket that can also be chopped and re-injected. The use of only recyclable products contributes to a better environment. The design was thoroughly studied, so that the handling is less aggressive to the costumer. The cylinder exterior is also very important, not only because the new design may look more ergonomic and elegant, but also because it is cleaner and safer. CoMet lightweight cylinder integrates in one cylinder, the Past and the Future, the Proven and the Innovation, in an elegant compromise.     

Integrated sustainability assessment for chemical processes

Policies on sustainable development have resulted in the wide concern about economic, safety, and environmental-friendly chemical production. This work focuses on the development of a holistic methodology that enables the evaluation and comparison of process sustainability in an integrated system. This methodology is proposed based on material and energy flows, process parameters, and process configuration. It uses a set of criteria, including inherent safety, potential environmental impact, and economic aspects. These criteria as the basis for determining the integrated index can be used to perform sustainability assessment for process alternatives under investigation. The multi-criteria decision analysis procedure is presented to conduct the integrated assessment based on qualitative and quantitative analysis. As a case study, ethanol production process, i.e., ethylene-derived feedstock process (A1) and straw cellulose-derived feedstock process (A2) are used to illustrate the proposed methodology. Results showed that A1 had advantage over A2 for the economic aspect while A2 had better performance in the environmental and safety aspects. A2 is the prior option from the point of view of comprehensive evaluation.     

Inspection procedures in manufacturing processes: recent studies and research perspectives

Quality inspections are performed in almost every production system to prevent nonconforming products from reaching final customers or end users. Quality inspections are typically performed referring to specific inspection procedures, depending on the production process. Two general inspection paradigms may be identified: online inspection and offline inspection. These are differentiated by the way in which inspections are made. The paper presents a recent survey on new studies on inspection procedures for both paradigms. The main novelty of the study is the identification of new research perspectives in such a highly explored field. New schemes of analysis allow highlighting the research areas which are not adequately covered by the literature. A brief examination of some bibliometric aspects is also proposed.     

Cloud manufacturing service composition and optimal selection with sustainability considerations: a multi-objective integer bi-level multi-follower programming approach

The process of service composition and optimal selection (SCOS) is an important issue in cloud manufacturing (CMfg). However, the current studies on CMfg and SCOS have generally focused on optimising the allocation of resources against quality of service (QoS), in terms of e.g. cost, quality, and time. They have seldom taken the perspective of sustainability into discussion, although sustainability is indispensable in the CMfg environment. Addressing this gap, we aim to (1) propose a comprehensive method to assess the sustainability of cloud manufacturing (SoM) in terms of the economic, environmental, and social aspects; (2) establish a multi-objective integer bi-level multi-follower programming (MOIBMFP) model to simultaneously maximise SoM and QoS from the perspectives of both platform operator and multiple service demanders; and (3) design a hybrid particle swarm optimisation algorithm to solve the proposed MOIBMFP model. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is more feasible and effective than the typical multi-objective particle swarm optimisation algorithm when solving the proposed model. In other words, the proposed model and algorithm suggest better alternatives to meet the needs of the platform operator and service demanders in the CMfg environment.     

Electrochemical treatment of the effluent of a fine chemical manufacturing plant

In this work, the electrochemical oxidation of an actual industrial wastewater with conductive-diamond anodes has been studied. The wastewater is the effluent of a fine chemicals plant. This effluent consists of an aqueous solution of solvents (ketones and alcohols) with a high concentration of aromatic compounds coming from the raw materials, intermediates and products of the different processes of the plant and its COD is around 6000 mg dm(-3). The electrolyses were carried out in a discontinuous operation mode under galvanostatic conditions, using a bench-scale plant equipped with a single compartment electrochemical flow cell. The conductive-diamond electrochemical oxidation (CDEO) allowed achieving the complete mineralization of the waste with high current efficiencies. These efficiencies seem to strongly depend on the concentration, pH and temperature but not on the current density (in the range studied). This confirms that besides the hydroxyl radicals mediated oxidation, CDEO combines other important oxidation processes such as the direct electrooxidation on the diamond surface and the oxidation mediated by other electrochemically formed compounds generated on this electrode. Other two advanced oxidation processes (ozonation and Fenton oxidation) have been also studied in this work for comparison purposes. Both technologies were able to treat the wastes, but they obtained very different results in terms of efficiency and mineralization. The efficiency of ozonation and electrochemical oxidation were very similar (especially during the first stages), although the energy consumption required by the electrochemical process to remove at fixed percentage of COD or TOC was significantly smaller than that of ozonation. The possible accumulation of carboxylic acid as final products excludes the use of Fenton oxidation as a sole treatment technology.     

Application of ISO 9002 and FDA's good manufacturing practices to general chemical manufacturing.

Two manufacturing standards are discussed and compared, namely, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Good Manufacturing Practices and the International Standards Organization 9000 (ISO 9000) series. Conclusions are drawn relative to quality improvement strategies.     

Value chain management for commodities: a case study from the chemical industry

We present a planning model for chemical commodities related to an industry case. Commodities are standard chemicals characterized by sales and supply volatility in volume and value. Increasing and volatile prices of crude oil-dependent raw materials require coordination of sales and supply decisions by volume and value throughout the value chain to ensure profitability. Contract and spot demand differentiation with volatile and uncertain spot prices, spot sales quantity flexibility, spot sales price–quantity functions and variable raw material consumption rates in production are problem specifics to be considered. Existing chemical industry planning models are limited to production and distribution decisions to minimize costs or makespan. Demand-oriented models focus on uncertainty in demand quantities not in prices. We develop an integrated model to optimize profit by coordinating sales quantity, price and supply decisions throughout the value chain. A two-phase optimization approach supports robust planning ensuring minimum profitability even in case of worst-case spot sales price scenarios. Model evaluations with industry case data demonstrate the impact of elasticities, variable raw material consumption rates and price uncertainties on planned profit and volumes.     

Production of green energy from co-digestion: perspectives for the Province of Cuneo, energetic balance and environmental sustainability

In Italy and many European countries, energy production from biomass is encouraged by strong economic subsidies so that biomass energy plants are getting large diffusion. Nevertheless, it is necessary to define the environmental compatibility taking into account global parameters as well as environmental impacts at regional and local scales coming from new polluting emissions. The environmental balances regarding new energy plants are of primary importance within very polluted areas such as Northern Italy where air quality limits are systematically exceeded, in particular for PM₁₀, NO₂, and ozone. The paper analyzes the renewable energy scenario relating to manure anaerobic digestion and biogas production for the Province of Cuneo, N–W Italy, and the environmental sustainability of the possible choices. The study is focused on energy producibility, heat and power, nitrogen oxides and ammonia emissions, GHG (greenhouse gases) balances dealing also with indirect releases of CH₄ and N₂O, as well as emissions due to energy crops production. The most important conclusion that can be drawn is that the production of renewable energy from anaerobic digestion could cover up to 13 % of the Province electricity consumption, but sustainability in terms of CO₂ emissions can be reached only through an overriding use of agricultural waste products (manure and by-products instead of energy crops) and cogeneration of thermal energy at disposal; the application of the best available techniques to waste gas cleaning, energy recovery, and digestate chemical–physical treatments allows positive emissive balances.     

Quantifying technological aspects of process sustainability: a thermodynamic approach

Thermodynamic analysis has greatly helped to compare and to improve the energy efficiency of all kinds of technological processes, and recently we have also attempted to analyse some important biochemical processes under intracellular conditions. This work has pointed to some key strategies on sustainable process operation, such as the exceptionally high thermodynamic efficiencies of chemical and solar energy conversion in living cells.From this it was expected that the sustainability strategies of specific biochemical processes and those of the ecosphere as a whole could be of guidance to current technological processes, especially now that there is a growing demand from government and industry to effectively deal with sustainability aspects in process analysis. Our focus on this issue has led to methodologies to quantify technological aspects of sustainability by making use of thermodynamic principles. Three indicators were constructed to express three technological aspects of process sustainability. First, an indicator for the sustainability of resource utilization considers the thermodynamic input and the availability the resources used in the process. Secondly, an efficiency indicator focuses on the conversion and loss of thermodynamic quantities in the process itself. Thirdly, an indicator for environmental compatibility takes into account the thermodynamic input required to prevent possible negative side effects of the process, such as global warming or water pollution. The three indicators are used to reflect on (un)sustainable characteristics of current technological processes compared to biochemical processes. Finally, we address the drawbacks of combining indicator values to express overall sustainability.     

Benchmarking of sustainability to assess practices and performances of the management of the end of life cycle of electronic products: a study of Brazilian manufacturing companies

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - The relentless pursuit of lower production costs causes companies to invest in more efficient production systems so that they can remain economically...     

Flexible manufacturing systems: a structural approach

In the last five years, developed countries have seen more rapid advancement in the application of high technology to manufacturing than in the two preceding decades. Many of these applications have occurred under the banner of a new type of manufacturing called flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs). With the implementation of FMSs, a new awareness of the opportunities for manufacturing-cost reduction is emerging. In this paper, the FMS taxonomy and structure is presented. To exploit this structure, FMS process and problem views are presented, and various aspects of flexibility are discussed. To show the complexity of an FMS, its design and operational problems are defined. Basic functions of robots and vision systems are also presented. Finally, FMS modularity issues and future trends in FMS development are outlined.     

Measuring manufacturing competence: a fuzzy approach

Over the last decade a large body of literature has pointed out the crucial role played by manufacturing in the achievement of the overall goals of a company. Some authors have attempted to summarise this role by introducing the concept of production competence: it measures a manufacturer's ability to support and implement a product-market specific business strategy and is calculated on the basis of current manufacturing performances. Such a measure of production competence can be associated with a short term perspective, as it disregards the future evolution of manufacturing performance. In fact, in many of today's industries, characterised by high turbulence, the current manufacturing performances could not be representative of the future ones and, consequently, of the manufacturing's overall ability to support the company's strategy in the long term. The purpose of this article is twofold: (1) to propose a new framework of production competence (which we will refer to as manufacturing competence), based on manufacturing critical capabilities and infrastructural resources, that considers also the potential of manufacturing for improving the company's performance in the future; and (2) to suggest a consistent measurement framework, derived from the fuzzy ses theory.     

An integrated sustainability assessment framework: a case of turning process

Sustainable manufacturing is a valuable tool for measuring and enhancing the machining performance. The implementation of sustainability frameworks in concerned industries poses enormous challenges despite various frameworks available in the literature. Thus, the objective of this paper is to present an integrated sustainability assessment framework wherein two machining scenarios (dry and wet turning) have been analysed by conducting experiments based on the process for a manufactured component in an industry from economic and environmental perspectives. The study further evaluates the economic and environmental indicators such as cost per component and energy consumption for Taguchi array design using empirical relations to evaluate sustainability by grey relational analysis and further optimise the machining performance by particle swarm optimisation. The results, however, indicate the possibility of transitioning the machining process from wet to dry at specific operating conditions with improved performance. In addition to this, the study also presents an illustration of social sustainability assessment framework which has been proposed after consultation with various manufacturing industries in order to make it convenient for them to implement and enhance the sustainability aspects of the machining process.     

The planning of a manufacturing system: a dynamic model

The paper studies a dynamical model of a manufacturing process taking into account:

the purchase of raw materials;

the scheduling of production;

the planning of sales.

We particularly deal with the planning of the production rate and of sales.

The basic hypotheses are:

the orders of each finished product are known over a given period of time

T;

the inventory levels are the state variables of the process;

the control variables are the purchase, productiqn and sale rates.

The goal of the ‘controller’ is to determine a policy which allows him to minimize at the time T the ‘capital’. As ‘capital’ we consider both the financial means and the technological resources employed in the process. Bilateral constraints in state and control variables have been introduced in our model.

The Maximum Principle has been used to formulate the problem and to obtain a solution.     

A hybrid multi-criteria decision approach to analyze key factors affecting sustainability in supply chain networks of manufacturing organizations

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Companies are under increasing pressure to inculcate sustainability in their supply chain networks. However, the companies face significant amount of...