This monograph presents a reliable methodology for characterising the energy and eco-efficiency of unit manufacturing processes. The Specific Energy Consumption, SEC, will be identified as the key indicator for the energy efficiency of unit processes. An empirical approach will be validated on different machine tools and manufacturing processes to depict the relationship between process parameters and energy consumptions. Statistical results and additional validation runs will corroborate the high level of accuracy in predicting the energy consumption. In relation to the eco-efficiency, the value and the associated environmental impacts of manufacturing processes will also be discussed. The interrelationship between process parameters, process value and the associated environmental impact will be integrated in the evaluation of eco-efficiency. The book concludes with a further investigation of the results in order to develop strategies for further efficiency improvement. The target audience primarily comprises researchers and experts in the field, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

Energy consumption is of great interest to manufacturing companies. Beyond considering individual processes and machines, the perspective on process chains and factories as a whole holds major potentials for energy efficiency improvements. To exploit these potentials, dynamic interactions of different processes as well as auxiliary equipment (e.g. compressed air generation) need to be taken into account. In addition, planning and controlling manufacturing systems require balancing technical, economic and environmental objectives. Therefore, an innovative and comprehensive methodology – with a generic energy flow-oriented manufacturing simulation environment as a core element – is developed and embedded into a step-by-step application cycle. The concept is applied in its entirety to a wide range of case studies such as aluminium die casting, weaving mills, and printed circuit board assembly in order to demonstrate the broad applicability and the benefits that can be achieved.

The Advanced Research Institute (A.R. 1.) on "the efficiency of Manufacturing Systems" was held under the auspices of the NATO Special Programm~ Panel on Systems Science as a part of the NATO Science Committee's continuous effort to promote the advancement of science through international co-operation. Advanced Research Institutes are organised for the purpose of bringing together experts in a particular field of interest to identify and make known the present state of knowledge in that area and, through informed debate, to make recommendations for directions for future research that would benefit the community at large. To this end two kinds of contribution were obtained by invitation. There were those papers which were about the current state of work in the area of manufacturing systems and its organisation; in addition three theme papers were presented to provide a stimulus to the discussion in terms of ways of thinking, both about the area and about the kind of research needed.

Over the last several years, manufacturers have expressed increasing interest in reducing their energy consumption and have begun to search for opportunities to reduce their energy usage. In this book, the authors explore a variety of opportunities to reduce the energy footprint of manufacturing. These opportunities cover the entire spatial scale of the manufacturing enterprise: from unit process-oriented approaches to enterprise-level strategies. Each chapter examines some aspect of this spatial scale, and discusses and describes the opportunities that exist at that level. Case studies demonstrate how the opportunity may be acted on with practical guidance on how to respond to these opportunities.

This Special Issue addresses the important issue of the energy efficiency of both manufacturing processes and systems. Manufacturing is responsible for one-third of global energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Thus, improving the energy efficiency of production has been the focus of research in recent years. Energy efficiency has begun to be considered as one of the key decision-making attributes for manufacturing. This book includes recent studies on methods for the measurement of energy efficiency, tools and techniques for the analysis and development of improvements with regards to energy consumption, modeling and simulation of energy efficiency, and the integration of green and lean manufacturing. This book presents a breadth of relevant information, material, and knowledge to support research, policy-making, practices, and experience transferability to address the issues of energy efficiency.

Sustainable Manufacturing Processes provides best practice advice on sustainable manufacturing methods, with examples from industry as well as important supporting theory. In the current manufacturing industry, processes and materials are developed with close reference to sustainability issues, with an outward look to optimum production efficiency and reduced environmental impact. Important topics such as the use of renewable energy, reduction of material waste and recycling, reduction in energy and water consumption, and reduction in emissions are all discussed, along with broad coverage of deformation and joining technologies, computational techniques, and computer-aided engineering. In addition, a wide range of traditional and innovative manufacturing technologies are covered, including friction stir welding, incremental forming, abrasive water jet machining, laser beam machining, sustainable foundry, porous material fabrication by powder metallurgy, laser and additive manufacturing, and thermoelectric and thermomagnetic energy harvesting. - Features practical case studies from industry experts - Explains methods for reducing waste in additive manufacturing - Provides a detailed examination on how sustainability is measured in manufacturing

In companies that produce goods and services, productivity and efficiency improvements are a constant challenge. This book reviews the differences between productivity and efficiency. It proposes a new method and makes available a computational tool for implementation that contributes to facilitating the use of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The book presents a discussion about productivity and efficiency, illustrating the potentials of use and conceptual differences. It covers the concepts and techniques for analysis of productivity and efficiency, analyzing critical benefits and limitations, explains in detail how to use DEA for analysis, provides innovative methods for using DEA, offers a free online computer tool with a direction guide, shows real empirical applications, and covers other techniques that can be used to complement the analysis performed. The book is for professionals, managers, consultants, students working and taking courses in productive systems of goods and services. Ancillary materials include a free online computer tool to operationalize the concepts and methods proposed in the book, a guide on how to use the method and the software developed for the DEA application. Solutions manual, instructor’s manual, PowerPoint slides, and figure slides also will be available upon qualified adoption.