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1 – 10 of 62
Article
Publication date: 1 June 2005

S. Kara, P. Pornprasitpol and H. Kaebernick

Aims to develop a selective disassembly methodology for generating an optimum disassembly sequence for end‐of‐life (EOL) products.

3047

Abstract

Purpose

Aims to develop a selective disassembly methodology for generating an optimum disassembly sequence for end‐of‐life (EOL) products.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a selective disassembly methodology for EOL products. In order to achieve this, Nevins and Whitney's methodology for assembly was modified. In addition, a Java‐based software was developed to speed up the generation of all possible disassembly sequences.

Findings

Finds that the methodology developed by Nevins and Whitney for assembly is applicable to disassembly process. In addition, the winnowing process for disassembly is much easier than for assembly because of the selective disassembly approach, which automatically provides a significant constraint on possible sequences.

Research limitations/implications

Provides an easy to use and visual disassembly sequence generation tool for end‐of‐life products.

Practical implications

Disassembly is one of the significant cost drivers in achieving close loop manufacturing. Application of the methodology proposed in this paper will significantly reduce the disassembly time by providing a disassembly sequence for the selected components with reuse potential.

Originality/value

Provides a graphical representation of disassembly sequences at different stages of the process, which allows the user to visualize the disassembly process.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 25 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2014

Sekar Vinodh and Gopinath Rathod

– The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated technical and economic model to evaluate the reusability of products or components.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated technical and economic model to evaluate the reusability of products or components.

Design/methodology/approach

Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is applied to obtain the product’s environmental performance. Monte Carlo simulation is utilized for enabling sustainable product design.

Findings

The results show that the model is capable of assessing the potential reusability of used products, while the usage of simulation significantly increases the effectiveness of the model in addressing uncertainties.

Research limitations/implications

The case study has been conducted in a single manufacturing organization. The implications derived from the study are found to be practical and useful to the organization.

Practical implications

The paper reports a case study carried out for an Indian rotary switches manufacturing organization. Hence, the model is practically feasible.

Originality/value

The article presents a study that investigates LCA and simulation as enablers of sustainable product design. Hence, the contributions of this article are original and valuable.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 February 2014

Sekar Vinodh and K. Jayakrishna

– The purpose of this paper is to propose a new framework to evaluate the sustainability of product at design and development phase in the modern manufacturing system.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new framework to evaluate the sustainability of product at design and development phase in the modern manufacturing system.

Design/methodology/approach

A detailed examination over the literatures reveals that the current frameworks that are available to measure overall product sustainability do not effectively address all aspects of sustainability to full extent. An integrated model encompassing the approaches such as environmentally conscious quality function deployment (ECQFD), life cycle assessment (LCA) and sustainability analysis has been proposed.

Findings

The eco-friendly option as well as the component with high remanufacturing feasibility has been found. Also, the environmental impact of the component has been found.

Research limitations/implications

The integrated model has been test implemented in a single manufacturing organisation. In future, more number of studies could be conducted to ensure the practical feasibility.

Practical implications

The integrated model has been applied to an Indian organization manufacturing automotive assemblies. The case study also addresses the re-manufacturing feasibility of the product with validating the results at each step.

Originality/value

The study is the outcome of deploying integrated sustainability framework model in a manufacturing organisation. Hence, the contributions and findings are original.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 13 March 2023

Diala Kabbara

The current changes and relevance of female entrepreneurship at the national and international level for economic growth, social impact and environmental degradation highlight the…

Abstract

The current changes and relevance of female entrepreneurship at the national and international level for economic growth, social impact and environmental degradation highlight the need for more analysis of female entrepreneurial typologies and value creations.

This chapter aims to contribute to the field of female entrepreneurship literature. It provides theoretical evidence about the main internal (personal characteristic and motivation, network) and external (women migration, crises, digitalization) drivers that trigger women entrepreneurs to undertake entrepreneurial actions in national and international contexts. Besides, this chapter conceptualizes a new untapped context of multiple value-creating entrepreneurial systems in the female entrepreneurship literature by uncovering a blended form of value creation encompassing several social, economic and environmental levels.

Details

New Horizons and Global Perspectives in Female Entrepreneurship Research
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-781-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 November 2008

Jessica Hanafi, Sami Kara and Hartmut Kaebernick

End‐of‐life (EOL) products have become a major environmental issue among countries and manufacturers. This is due to the growing number of EOL products and their hazardous…

6025

Abstract

Purpose

End‐of‐life (EOL) products have become a major environmental issue among countries and manufacturers. This is due to the growing number of EOL products and their hazardous contents. Many collection strategies and pilot projects have been conducted to manage EOL products, especially Waste Electrical and Electronics equipments (WEEEs). However, as characteristics of a population are different to one another, a customized collection strategy is required. The purpose of this paper is to find an effective collection strategy which considers cost and environmental impact simultaneously.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents an integrated collection strategy which combines a Fuzzy Colored Petri Net forecasting method and collection network model to collect EOL products. Colored Petri Net is used in modeling the integrated collection strategy. To test the collection strategy, a case study on mobile phone collection in Australia is presented.

Findings

The integrated collection strategy developed in this paper finds that by providing demographic data and historical sales of a relevant product in a certain location, the best strategy to collect EOL products in that location can be determined. This paper finds that the best strategy that suits one location might be different to other locations.

Originality/value

This paper presents a model which provides a customized collection strategy that follows the characteristics of a population. This strategy allows government organizations or manufacturers to simulate the strategies to collect EOL products in different locations.

Details

The International Journal of Logistics Management, vol. 19 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-4093

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Sustainability Marketing
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-244-7

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2014

Sami Kara, Suphunnika Ibbotson and Berman Kayis

Improved environmental performance of products and services have lately become one of the main strategic and operational goals of manufacturers. This is due to influences from…

2922

Abstract

Purpose

Improved environmental performance of products and services have lately become one of the main strategic and operational goals of manufacturers. This is due to influences from various stakeholders including government, consumers, societies and the business partners. Evidently, different manufacturers differently implement their environmental practices for sustainable product development depending on various driving factors such as customer awareness, legislation, economic benefits and competitive strategies, etc. In theory, manufacturers can efficiently undertake sustainable product development by implementing life cycle thinking into their system. This way, they can monitor the environment hot spots throughout a product life cycle and be able to minimise the environmental impact effectively. Therefore, several researchers have focused on developing tools and strategies to support the manufacturers in implementing sustainable manufacturing and product development studies. However, in reality, each manufacturer may operate their manufacturing system differently to accommodate different demands and constraints induced by firm characteristics and its regional location. Their attempts to implement the sustainable tools and strategies to their companies would also be different. Thus far, a number of studies have studied the implementation for a specific company. No studies have examined the relationship between their decisions and implementation for different characteristics of firms and different manufacturing locations. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to comprehensively investigate the practices of manufacturers towards sustainable product development.

Design/methodology/approach

A detailed statistical analysis was conducted on the survey data gathered from 330 manufacturing organisations in 13 countries. The research questions mainly cover implementation approaches, decision tools and techniques used and main driving forces at the strategic and operational levels concerning environmental practices in sustainable product development. This is to bridge the gaps between the research outputs and implementations in practice for the developed sustainable strategies and tools. Results highlighted interesting relationships of the implementations across different geographical regions (locations) as well as types and sizes of manufacturers. They can be used to shed some light for future research direction, the dominant driving forces of consumers and regulations importance towards the manufacturer practices to improve not only the environmental performance but also their social responsibility. In total, 12 null hypotheses were formulated to test the relationships as well as the correlations between the manufacturing characteristics and the research questions which cover several driving forces in implementing the environmental strategies.

Findings

The results of this large-scale global research highlighted that different geographical/manufacturing regions are driven mainly by legislation, competition and consumer pressures whilst manufacturers of different sizes utilise various decision tools. Design tools such as LCA, DFE and ECQFD methods are likely to be utilised in the medium-and high-complexity product development by OEM and ETM manufacturers. Environmental responsibility plays an important role and also enhanced by other driving forces such as the economic benefits, the long-term survival in the market and the company image.

Research limitations/implications

Future work may include some or all of the following; such as respondents of this survey may be re-contacted and comparative data can be gathered from these manufacturers to capture the changes over the years. Further investigation of the sustainable supply chain management approaches, influences of dynamic driving forces and the environmental practices towards cleaner production practices such as improving energy efficiency, minimising waste, recycling scraps and reusing product as well as the product recovery practices for used products would be beneficial to gather and evaluate. This would support to address the current trends and emerging practices.

Practical implications

Results highlighted interesting relationships and thus provide some answers on strategies adopted by many manufacturers for the sustainability approaches and implementations across different geographical regions (locations) as well as types and sizes of manufacturers. The wave of change towards sustainability is clearly on enterprises, industries, communities and governments for thinking about solutions to increase the awareness in environmental sustainability thus reduce carbon footprint. In some areas there is clear progress but for many, this process is just beginning.

Social implications

There is an overwhelming amount of information, methods and opinions, and proliferation of initiatives. It is in this climate that not only manufacturers but society must provide a practical and effective way to develop and disseminate the skills and knowledge required to fuel an environmentally sustainable economy. To achieve this, results of global surveys like this paper may support manufacturers who need to work with communities and stay well connected to their stakeholders. This may lead to developing training packages that accurately reflect industry needs and provide leadership in communities and workforce development.

Originality/value

There is generally an understanding of the sustainable product development and the use and role of tools and techniques to improve environmental performance of manufacturers at micro-level (within companies based on selected product, process, environmental tools and manufacturing characteristics). Whereas, a large-scale research like this paper, to present the status of sustainable product and process development approaches used by manufacturers located around the globe, of different sizes, types within existing operational and corporate strategies and eco-design initiatives have not been detailed.

Details

Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, vol. 25 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-038X

Keywords

Content available

Abstract

Details

International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, vol. 64 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0401

Article
Publication date: 4 July 2016

K. Jayakrishna, R. Jeya Girubha and S. Vinodh

The purpose of this paper is to present the comparison of sustainability characteristics of conventional and computer numerical control (CNC) turning process. The sustainability…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the comparison of sustainability characteristics of conventional and computer numerical control (CNC) turning process. The sustainability performance measures of both the processes were also being evaluated.

Design/methodology/approach

The study discusses the achievement of sustainability characteristics at the manufacturing process level of widely used industrial process, mechanical machining. Sustainable development includes improvements in material, product design and manufacturing process orientations. The present study narrates the sustainability characteristics at the process level.

Findings

The results confirm that the overall sustainability characteristics of CNC machining are potentially high considering the economic and environmental aspects of the machining parameters. A detailed life cycle analysis for both conventional and CNC turning was performed to evaluate the environmental impact and benefits.

Research limitations/implications

The study contributed in the paper is limited to process dimension of sustainability. The economic and environmental aspects of machining were also being discussed.

Practical implications

The conduct of the study enabled the comparison of sustainability characteristics of conventional and CNC-turning processes. The approach could also be expanded for the comparison of sustainability characteristics of other manufacturing processes also.

Originality/value

The study is an attempt to explore the process sustainability by the comparison of environmental impact of making processes. Hence, the contributions are original.

Details

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1726-0531

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 September 2016

A.N. Mustafizul Karim, Saravanan Tanjong Tuan and H.M. Emrul Kays

The purpose of this paper is to address and solve operational problems of an automotive industry in reaching production target by adopting Maynard Operation Sequence Technique…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to address and solve operational problems of an automotive industry in reaching production target by adopting Maynard Operation Sequence Technique (MOST) as lean and productivity improvement strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

In the undertaken case of auto-car rear window assembly line, a recurring production shortfall in fulfilling the daily demand is seemingly due to inappropriate work method. Initial observation of the operations led to suspect certain lapses in initiatives to adopt the time standards, to reduce or eliminate non-value added motions, to design suitable aisle and to assign tasks among workstations in a balanced manner. Subsequently an attempt is made to pinpoint the causes of poor performance and the bottlenecks through process flow analysis and time study by applying MOST. The elemental tasks are closely examined for possible reduction of workstation times by choosing efficient work methods with ergonomic features. Thus appropriate hand tools, jigs and fixture with nominal investment are prescribed to incorporate in the assembly works. The operational changes as steered by the MOST application have enhanced the workflow with a shorter cycle time which led to a substantial increase in productivity.

Findings

The productivity of the assembly line is increased by more than 29 percent from the earlier capacity through the MOST application which is deemed to meet the current level of demand.

Originality/value

The adopted framework for recognizing the effectiveness of MOST to expose and rectify the flaws in work methods without much investment is expected to be beneficial for a manufacturer in securing the competitiveness.

Details

International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, vol. 65 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0401

Keywords

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