Emma L. Rosamond

Transparency Built‐in

The supply chains found in modern manufacturing are often complex and long. The resulting opacity poses a significant barrier to the measurement and minimization of energy consumption and therefore to the implementation of sustainable manufacturing. The current article investigates whether the adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) technology can be used to reach transparency in terms of energy and financial inputs to manufacturing operations. AM refers to the use of a group of electricity‐driven technologies capable of combining materials to manufacture geometrically complex products in a single digitally controlled process step, entirely without molds, dies, or other tooling. The single‐step nature affords full measurability with respect to process energy inputs and production costs. However, the parallel character of AM (allowing the contemporaneous production of multiple parts) poses previously unconsidered problems in the estimation of manufacturing resource consumption. This research discusses the implementation of a tool for the estimation of process energy flows and costs occurring in the AM technology variant direct metal laser sintering. It is demonstrated that accurate predictions can be made for the production of a basket of sample parts. Further, it is shown that, unlike conventional processes, the quantity and variety of parts demanded and the resulting ability to fully utilize the available machine capacity have an impact on process efficiency. It is also demonstrated that cost minimization in additive manufacturing may lead to the minimization of process energy consumption, thereby motivating sustainability improvements.

Product life cycle information management in the electronics supply chain

Information availability and data transparency are key requirements from manufacturers when supporting products throughout the life cycle, for example, when implementing product service systems. The application of embedded wireless technologies into printed circuit boards can help by bridging current knowledge gaps in order to minimise both technical and financial risk through: reduced product downtime, improved quality of tracking, and enhanced end-of-life decision making. The application of an embedded radio frequency identification device into printed circuit boards for life cycle monitoring of electronic products to support product service systems is discussed in this article.

Sustainable production in the UK: a tool to support printed circuit assembly PCA manufacturing

Product life-cycle reduction, hazardous substance utilisation, waste generation and resource utilisation – among other sustainably issues – are becoming a growing concern for electronics manufactures in the UK; with tighter measures not only over what materials can be used, but also on waste production and energy utilisation. This paper discusses extensions on a tool developed by the Loughborough University to include the evaluation of sustainable phenomena during production, thus supporting more sustainable production in the electronics manufacturing domain. The tool supports the optimisation of process and product design in advance of production runs in order to support a ‘right first time’ approach to manufacturing, whilst meeting both quality and customer requirements. The main contributions are (1) providing a simulation tool to approach sustainable aspects of business based on specific user priorities in the area, (2) demonstrating the tool on a real case study developed under industrial constraints and conditions and (3) providing a tool that can evolve along with the rapidly changing sustainability requirements in the application domain. The tool is presented, in this paper, along with its integrated modelling framework. The study contains results derived from an industry-based case study, designed to represent both the functionality and potential of the developed tool. The case study and the analysis have a focus on sustainable impacts due to poor quality.

The biomechanical design of a gymnastics training aid for a handstand on the rings

The handstand on rings is a requirement in competition routines in Men’s Artistic Gymnastics, and hence is a key skill in the development of an elite artistic gymnast. This study was carried out to establish the coaching requirements of a training aid for a handstand on the rings, to investigate the biomechanics of the handstand, to design and construct a training aid, and to assess its performance. The key requirements of a training aid for a handstand on rings were compiled from a survey of 11 national coaches. A biomechanical analysis of a handstand on rings was carried out in order to investigate the control mechanism and to inform the training aid design. The aid was designed to permit the same control mechanism to be used and was manufactured in accordance with British Standards. In order to assess the performance of the aid displacement, joint angle, and muscle activation data were used to compare handstands on the rings, floor, prototype training aid, and two other existing training aids. The results showed that a handstand on the prototype was more similar to rings than a handstand on the existing training aids. The prototype also simplified the learning of the skill.

A Customers’ Satisfaction Based Framework for Continuous Development of PSS

Customer satisfaction levels have been used by industry to provide valuable insight into the evaluation of products and service quality. However, the levels do not necessarily provide a full picture needed for a full evaluation. This paper analyses published academic research work and industry’s views, and presents a framework that uses customer satisfaction as the main contributor towards the state of “total contentment”, to measure performance and develop product service systems (PSS) within industry. Additional parameters such as customer loyalty and retention are included in the proposed framework, providing a full overview in how customers’ “total contentment” can be determined.

A proposed method for Design for Eco-Finance

Products are becoming more complex to the extent that some elements of the design may be outsourced to multiple external vendors. Hence, any changes made during design activities can generate significant additional costs and time With high upfront design and development costs being common place specifically in low-volume high-value electronics production, the ability to accurately predict the anticipated financial burden of both these activities, and through-life production changes is of great importance to a business, especially in light of probable future influences such as environmentally driven legislation. The paper describes a new approach to address such issues, through the development of an Eco-Financial Decision Support System to help electronics companies provide rapid responses and quotations for the design and development of new or obsolescent products. These will be addressed through development towards ‘Design for Eco-Finance’ (DfEF), a new component of the DfX family, which will allow designers to perform a ‘trade-off’ between environmental impacts and costs, supporting the financially viable, sustainable design of electronics products.

Adapting the ‘Iron Triangle’ to Develop a Framework for Reverse Manufacturing Decision Support Tools

Interest from industry in reverse manufacturing is increasing due to market drivers such as higher costs for resources and increasing government legislation aimed at reducing waste. In order for companies to take advantage of this business opportunity, awareness and understanding of the role of uncertainty within reverse manufacturing and its influence on performance parameters of cost, time and quality must be acknowledged. Although decision support tools exist in literature, they currently lack a holistic approach in modeling the interrelated effects of performance parameters and uncertainty within the business. The purpose of this paper therefore is to propose a framework in which future decision tools can be created for reverse manufacturing. The effects of this framework are then demonstrated with current business scenarios, using reverse manufacturing case study examples.

A Proposed Novel Knowledge Framework for Remanufacturing Viability in a Modern Supply Chain

Due to increasing legislative demand and rising material and energy costs, there have been growing interests in maximising the useful phase of a product’s lifecycle via sustainable extended-life options such as remanufacturing. Due to the modern disparate nature of the manufacturing supply chain, there are several complex issues to be recognised when embarking on end of life product processing, including data availability and the corresponding knowledge gaps that prevent businesses from effective decision making. This paper presents a novel knowledge-based framework, designed to support a business in assessing the suitability of a product for remanufacture when considering critical product parameters and business key performance indicators (KPIs). The structure of the framework is discussed and an example case study is presented in the context of business knowledge requirements for remanufacturing.

A satisfaction based framework for continuous development of PSS

Customer satisfaction levels have been used by industry to provide valuable insight into the evaluation of products and service quality. However, the levels do not necessarily provide a full picture needed for a full evaluation. This paper analyses published academic research work and industry’s views, and presents a framework that uses customer satisfaction as the main contributor towards the state of “total contentment”, to measure performance and develop product service systems (PSS) within industry. Additional parameters such as customer loyalty and retention are included in the proposed framework, providing a full overview in how customers’ “total contentment” can be determined.