Environmental impact minimisation in an automotive component using alternative materials and manufacturing processes

Sustainable development is seeking to meet the needs of the present without compromising those of future generations. The need to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of manufacturing, in order to address the social, economic, cultural and environmental problems is felt widely among the industrialized society. Selecting or identifying a suitable material or manufacturing processes is one way of achieving sustainability of a product by reducing its end of life impacts to a possible extent. But technological changes are unpredictable and so predicting future possible environmental impacts are highly difficult. This paper tries to explore the potential of environmental impact minimisation using alternative materials and alternative manufacturing processes. A case study has been carried out to in this regard in an Indian automotive component manufacturing organization. The results indicate that change in material has higher impact over the manufacturing process in reducing the environmental impact. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.