A life cycle assessment framework for the evaluation of automobile paint shops

Manufacturing could be described as a sequence of activities for the production of goods. The necessary activities require the transformation of materials and resources which beyond the expected good leads to detrimental emissions to air, water, and soil compartments. In recent years stricter regulations were adopted in Europe, forcing industry to implement cleaner processes. Manufacturing of automobiles involve resource intensive activities, with painting processes sharing a significant portion of the environmental burden. A need is foreseen for methodologies to best support industry in their efforts to improve the implementation of environmental strategies and solutions. A framework based on literature review and a French project is proposed that aims at providing a structured and consistent approach to install life cycle thinking at the plant level for the painting of automobile metal and plastic surfaces. A European paint shop example is used to present the application of the framework. Metal surface data is representative of Germany while plastic surface data is representative of France. Results showed that opportunities for process and system improvement are tightly associated to cost, plant size and age, and to the existing constraints and context of the paint shop. Process optimization, improvement potential, trade-off analysis, uncertainty analysis (temporal and spatial variability), and multi-criteria analysis were identified as key research tools and sub-disciplines that have a strong influence in the search of novel solutions and the assertion of environmental impact assessment. The proposed framework will be useful for plant managers to better determine environmental strategies, to guide continuous process improvement, and to facilitate decision-making by linking plant historical data, operating parameters, and life cycle thinking with environmental assessment methodologies. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.