Manufacturing simulation and digital engineering tools and procedures have had a positive impact on the manufacturing industry. However, to design a sustainable manufacturing system, a multitude of system dimensions must be jointly optimized. This paper proposes an integrated simulation tool helping to maximize production efficiency and balance environmental constraints already in the system design phase. Lean manufacturing, identification and elimination of waste and production losses, and environmental considerations are all needed during development of a sustainable manufacturing system. Engineers designing the manufacturing system need decision support, otherwise sub-optimization is more likely to occur. We present methods for calculating energy efficiency, CO2 emissions and other environmental impacts integrated into factory simulation software.1922 978-1-4244-2708-6/08/$25.00

The capacity to calculate and communicate the beneficial environmental impact of products and services is lacking in scientific guidelines. To fill this gap, this article presents a new approach for calculating the carbon handprint of products. The core of the suggested approach involves comparing the carbon footprint of an improved product with the carbon footprint of the baseline product, and subsequently calculating the reduction in greenhouse gas emission that can be achieved by utilizing the improved product. The proposed approach is founded on the standardized life cycle assessment methodology for footprints until the use stage, and it provides a framework to recognize the effects of the remaining life cycle stages in the actual operational environment. This calculation is meant to be used by manufacturers that wish to show potential customers the positive climate impacts offered by the manufacturer's product. The carbon handprint approach complements the existing methodologies by introducing new definitions and consistent guidelines for comparing the baseline product and the improved product. This article presents the developed calculation approach and demonstrates the approach with one case study about renewable diesel. Results of the diesel handprint calculation indicate that a driver can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by choosing renewable diesel over baseline fuel. Thus, the producer of the renewable diesel will create a handprint.Organizations can use carbon handprints for quantifying the greenhouse gas reductions their customers can achieve by utilizing the product. Thus, the carbon handprint can be a powerful tool in communications and marketing. By conducting carbon handprint assessments, a company can also find out how their product qualifies in comparison to baseline products. Therefore, carbon handprints can also support decision-making and lifelong product design.

Remanufacturing is recognized as a major circular economy option to recover and upgrade functions from post-use products. However, the inefficiencies associated with operations, mainly due to the uncertainty and variability of material flows and product conditions, undermine the growth of remanufacturing. With the objective of supporting the design and management of more proficient and robust remanufacturing processes, this paper proposes a generic and reconfigurable simulation model of remanufacturing systems. The developed model relies upon a modular framework that enables the user to handle multiple process settings and production control policies, among which token-based policies. Customizable to the characteristics of the process under analysis, this model can support logistics performance evaluation of different production control policies, thus enabling the selection of the optimal policy in specific business contexts. The proposed model is applied to a real remanufacturing environment in order to validate and demonstrate its applicability and benefits in the industrial settings.

Driven by public awareness and international regulations and standards, sustainability and environmental impacts have become increasingly important distinguishing factors between competing products and services. Circular economy aims to increase economic growth by using natural resources and ecosystems in a more effective way with the aim of maintaining products, components and materials at their highest utility and value at all times. More effective use of materials enables the creation of more value both by cost savings and by developing new markets or by developing existing ones. Reduced acquisition of resources is a driver for innovation for sustainable use of materials, components and products as well as new business models. This chapter introduces methods and tools to assess and reduce environmental impacts, and improve resource efficiency and sustainability management. Life cycle thinking forms one of the basic principles of sustainable development, and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the leading method for assessing the potential environmental impacts of a product, process or service throughout its life cycle (ISO 14040-44). Other methods based on life cycle thinking are also introduced. LCA focusing on the contribution of a product or service to global warming uses methods for Carbon Footprint measurement and facilitates the tracking of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (ISO 14067). Water footprint is a tool that assesses the magnitude of potential water-specific environmental impacts of water use associated with a product, process or organisation. It aims at describing the impact of water utilization on humans and ecosystems due to changes in water quality and quantity (ISO 14046 Environmental managementWater footprint-Principles, requirements and guidelines 2014). The concept of handprint has recently been introduced to measure and communicate the positive changes of actions and the beneficial impacts created within the life cycle of products, services, processes, companies, organizations or individuals. A handprint of a product can be created either by preventing or avoiding negative impacts (footprints), or by creating positive benefits. When adopting the circular economy way of thinking, companies need these tools and methods to ensure resource efficiency, cost cuts and improvements in their environmental performance which provide them with more earning opportunities. Fundamental changes throughout the value chain, from product design and production processes to new business models and consumption patterns, support this trend.

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