Title: Characterising the sustainability performance of cyclic manufacturing processes: a hybrid manufacturing case

Authors: Sriram Manoharan; Dustin S. Harper; Karl R. Haapala

Addresses: School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA ' School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA ' School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA

Abstract: The drive for ever-increasing materials and energy efficiency and associated cost savings has compelled manufacturers to adopt flexible and rapid production systems. The technical limitations and sustainability concerns of conventional unit processes and sequential process flows have led to widespread adoption of advanced manufacturing processes that exhibit cyclic nature, termed cyclic manufacturing processes. While cyclic manufacturing processes enable efficient production through reduced time-to-market, lower production costs, and shorter manufacturing process chains, relatively little attention has been paid toward characterising their associated environmental, economic, and social impacts. A holistic manufacturing process modelling framework is developed to support sustainability performance characterisation of cyclic manufacturing processes. The developed framework enables model reusability, extensibility, and composability to characterise, assess, and extract product and process sustainability information. It is applied to characterise environmental impacts of a low-cost, hybrid (additive-subtractive) process for production of polylactide (PLA) parts, and compared with a conventional subtractive process (milling).

Keywords: cyclic manufacturing; process modelling framework; sustainability performance characterisation; unit manufacturing process modelling; hybrid manufacturing process; reusability; extensibility; composability; energy consumption; sustainable manufacturing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSM.2020.107125

International Journal of Sustainable Manufacturing, 2020 Vol.4 No.2/3/4, pp.216 - 233

Received: 01 Mar 2019
Accepted: 28 Jun 2019
Published online: 04 May 2020 *

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