Integration of economic and environmental considerations into process planning
Abstract
Due to mounting environmental concerns, the need for methods that improve the sustainability of manufacturing has never been higher. Often, the environmental footprint of manufactured products is largely determined by the process plan. Little research has been conducted on the development of process planning methods that consider environmental factors. In this work, a new process planning method is developed that fills critical gaps in environmentally conscious process planning through taking cost and life cycle environmental impacts into consideration. The proposed method consists of the following seven steps: (1) obtain a master process plan, (2) calculate the manufacturing cost and environmental impact of the plan, (3) identify the impactful processes, (4) identify the features realized by the impactful processes, (5) create alternative process plans, (6) calculate the manufacturing cost and environmental impact of the alternative process plans, and (7) identify the Pareto-optimal process plans. The efficacy of the proposed method is demonstrated successfully through the development of alternate process plans for a hip shell implant. The incorporation of life cycle environmental considerations through life cycle assessment provides a more holistic approach than current methods.
Degree
M.S.M.E.
Advisors
Sutherland, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Mechanical engineering|Sustainability
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