Waste elimination for manufacturing sustainability

The continuous improvement in manufacturing using waste elimination has been recognized as one of the most important tasks of socially responsible organizations. The capability to eliminate waste can lead to attaining environmental gains. Waste in any organizations is ranging from non-value adding activities to workplace hazards which can further lead to customers, employees and organizations dissatisfaction as well as environmental destruction. In this paper, nine waste types have been identified. Waste identification tools have been revisited. A waste elimination framework has been suggested as an approach for sustainability in manufacturing environment. The framework contains three consecutive phases: waste documentation, waste analysis, and waste removal. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by ELsevier B.V.