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Sustainable manufacturing: trends and research challenges

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 23; Issue: 2-3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09537287.2011.591619

1366-5871

Marco Garetti, Marco Taisch,

Environmental Impact and Sustainability

Abstract Sustainability is and will be a crucial issue for the present and future generations. The current assumption that natural resources are infinite and that the regenerative capacity of the environment is able to compensate for all human action is no longer acceptable. Hence, sustainability issues will influence all organisational aspects of the human life, from the economical, political, social and environmental points of view. The reason is simple: until now, all human activities have been based on the paradigm of unlimited resources and unlimited world's capacity for regeneration; from now on, the awareness of the termination of this assumption means that all related behavioural models must be changed. This is a very impressive objective embracing all fields of culture, economy, technology and much more. A continuing effort, together with a reasonable time span, will be required to pursue this goal. Fortunately, nature and the environment are capable of self-regulation and will give man a chance to recover from the damage he is causing to the earth mother, provided that the will to do so is firmly established. Manufacturing, as the main pillar of the civilised lifestyle, will be strongly affected by the sustainability issues and it will play an important role in establishing a sustainable way ahead. Today, nearly all manufacturing models are based on the old paradigm. Technology, on which the manufacturing is largely based, is asked, together with culture and economy, to give the tools and options for building new solutions towards a sustainable manufacturing concept. Generally speaking, new technology, new business models and new lifestyle models will be the cornerstones of the new sustainable world and this will be particularly true for what concerns the manufacturing sector. Impressive constraints and requirements will affect the industrial sector on the way ahead towards sustainability. Research and development will play a crucial role to this concern, having the responsibility to offer appropriate options to the society for answering the above-mentioned needs. The main evidences on researches challenges expected for sustainable manufacturing are outlined by the authors that have been involved in the IMS international project 'IMS2020: Supporting Global Research for IMS2020 Vision', promoted by the European Commission to prepare a roadmap for future (2020) manufacturing research. Keywords: sustainabilitysustainable manufacturing Acknowledgements The authors thank the European Commission for funding the IMS2020 project and all the partners of the IMS2020 consortium for their valuable help. To this concern, special thanks are due to the project officer Roberta Salonna and to Jacopo Cassina, IMS2020 project manager, without whom the project would have not been so successful. Also the authors thank the research group, whose valuable help and passionate work has been the foundation from where this article was developed. In particular special thanks are due to Marco Macchi and Sergio Terzi and to the brilliant PhD students that collaborated in various ways to this study, notably Alessandro Cannata, Domenico Centrone, Natalia Duque Ciceri and Luca Fumagalli. Notes 1. Best available techniques are defined as the most effective and advanced stage in the development of activities and their methods of operation which indicate the practical suitability of particular techniques for providing in principle the basis for emission limit values designed to prevent and, where that is not practicable, generally to reduce emissions and the impact on the environment as a whole (Definition from the Council Directive 2008/1/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008, concerning integrated pollution prevention and control).