Energy performance evaluation and improvement of unit-manufacturing processes: injection molding case study

In an effort to make more sustainable decisions, industry seeks reliable methods to assess and compare sustainability for manufacturing. Sustainability characterization is intended to provide such a reliable method to access and track sustainability information. As a step towards developing a standard reference for sustainability characterization of unit-manufacturing processes, in this paper, we focus on injection molding with energy as a sustainability indicator. This paper proposes a science-based guideline for energy: (i) prediction, (ii) benchmarking and performance evaluation, and (iii) improvement, for unit-manufacturing processes, which unlike the previous methods does not require a physical benchmark. We discuss in detail the steps of the proposed guideline for the injection molding process. The guideline considers different influencing factors such as part geometry, material-related physical and processing properties, and the manufacturing equipment information. The guideline is implemented by developing a user friendly system, and is demonstrated by a case study. We expect this work to contribute to the development of a standard reference methodology to help further sustainability in the manufacturing sector. Published by Elsevier Ltd.