Improving Factory Resource and Energy Efficiency: The FREE Toolkit

Abstract

Eco-efficiency is defined as the concept of doing more with less; in other words, creating goods and services while preserving natural resources and reducing waste and pollution during manufacturing. This paper presents a toolkit for eco-efficiency at factory level: the Factory Resource and Energy Efficiency (FREE) toolkit. It contains five key elements; (1) see waste, (2) find solutions, (3) set targets, (4) assess yourself, and (5) create good habits. The FREE toolkit contains a range of games, tools and methods mapped against these five elements to integrate sustainability into factory activities. This paper presents the toolkit structure and an example of the journey for eco-efficiency.

Teaching Energy Efficiency in Manufacturing Using Gamification: A Case Study

“…Focusing on sustainability, the skills required to address today's industry needs are envisioning, critical thinking and reflection, systemic thinking, collaboration and decision-making in uncertain and paradoxical conditions [2][3][4][5]. To address this challenge, a toolkit ( Figure 1) was developed to engage students (in higher education) and trainees (in professional courses) to learn more actively about eco-efficiency and sustainable manufacturing [6]. The toolkit aims to simplify and gamify sustainability concepts.…”

“…The toolkit aims to simplify and gamify sustainability concepts. This eco-efficiency toolkit is composed of five activities (or "elements"): (1) see waste, (2) find solutions, (3) set targets, (4) assess yourself, and (5) create good habits [6]. One notable tool in this eco-efficiency toolkit is the card game 'One thousand kWh'.…”