Life cycle assessment integrated value stream mapping framework to ensure sustainable manufacturing: a case study

Sustainable manufacturing follows triple bottom line approach and requires a holistic manufacturing view across the product's total life cycle. Traditional lean manufacturing tools do not account for environmental and societal benefits. In this context, this article presents a method for value stream mapping (VSM) integrated with life-cycle assessment (LCA) for ensuring sustainable manufacture. The proposed framework is capable of visualizing and assessing manufacturing process performance from sustainability view point. Also, desired future state of performance with minimal environmental impacts also has been developed. The proposed framework has been demonstrated with an application study. The environmental impacts in four major categories are being computed and compared. The key performance measures from environment, economy, and societal perspectives were compared and percentage improvement has been computed. Discussion about selection of appropriate disposal scenario for the selected product after its use phase is made and validated. The key contribution of the study is a practical framework for LCA-integrated VSM with a desired and improved future process scenario. The scientific value of the present study is that it has contributed a new framework for VSM integrated with LCA to ensure sustainable performance. The study provides insights to practitioners to visualize process performance from traditional and environmental perspectives.