Assessment of Environmentally Benign Manufacturing (EBM) Technologies

Final Report (April 2001, Adobe Acrobat format, 3.5 MB)

The purpose of this study is to gather information on research and development around the world aimed at developing alternative methods for materials processing with the purpose of minimizing toxic material generation and optimizing products and byproducts for sustainability and reuse characteristics.

Scope

This study reviews the current status of environmentally benign manufacturing (EBM) research, development, and applications in the United States, Japan, and Western Europe with a view towards evaluating the competitive status of U.S. efforts and towards finding good ideas abroad that would be useful in the United States. The study attempts to identify new strategies the research community could employ to improve the future position of U.S. manufacuturing industries with respect to environmental issues. It also assesses current international collaborative activities and identifies opportunities for new approaches and topics for international cooperation in this field.

The WTEC study benchmarks U.S. research and utilization of EBM-related technologies and helps identify fundamental research, policy, and educational challenges in order to enhance the long-term competitiveness of U.S. industry.

This assessment of EBM technologies focuses on the following:

• Benchmarking the current status and identifing research issues in the assessment of type and definition of metrics for various levels of environmental impacts resulting from manufacturing activities in three industries: metals processing, polymer processing, and electronics.
• Investigates international developments in a systems approach to EBM, which recognizes the common issues across industries and accommodates specific needs and activities of each industry
• Investigates integration with economics to establish performance metrics for management of EBM and life cycle analysis (LCA), with emphasis on cost/benefit of environmental activities, e.g., AT&T and Ford matrix methods
• Examines global trends in industrial reduce-reuse-recycle that may apply across industrial sectors
• Explores the feasibility of formulating a methodology to evaluate the effects of product design, process design, and materials choices on the manufacturing system, including the disposition of the products when they are finally discarded by consumers
• Examines barriers to the use of economic incentives for promoting the adoption of the principles of industrial ecology
• In identifying EBM-related technological processes that could be implemented in the next 10-15 years, the study highligts the discovery of highly innovative technological advances rather than incremental improvements; reveals integrative approaches and multi-disciplinary efforts, and identifies areas suitable for joint and multi-agency funding.

The panel's findings include the following: Europe leads in most governmental activities, Japan in industrial activities, and the results for research and development are mixed. The United States leads in financial and legal liability concerns, water conservation, decreased industrial releases to air and water, and research in polymers and long term electronics, but follows in all other areas. In the area of university educational activities, and both industry and government sponsorship of these, it is clear that Europe leads, followed by the United States and then Japan. Overall, therefore, the United States ranks third behind Europe and Japan.

Traveling panelists (see additional information)

	Dr. Timothy G. Gutowski Professor of Mechanical Engineering Director, Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity Massachusetts Institute of Technology
	Cynthia F Murphy (Panel Co-chair) Research Scientist, Center for Energy and Environmental Resources University of Texas at Austin
	Dr. David T. Allen Henry Beckman Professor in Chemical Engineering University of Texas at Austin
	Dr. Diana J. Bauer U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Research (NCER)
	Dr. Bert Bras Associate Professor Georgia Institute of Technology The George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering Systems Realization Laboratory
	Dr. Thomas S. Piwonka Director, Metal Casting Technology Center University of Alabama
	Dr. Paul Sheng Associate Principal McKinsey and Co., Inc.
	Dr. John W. Sutherland Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics Michigan Technological University
	Dr. Deborah L. Thurston,br> Director, Decision Systems Laboratory Department of General Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
	Dr. Egon E. Wolff Director, International Materials and Component Research Caterpillar Inc.

Other Team Members (see additional information)

	Delcie R. Durham, Ph.D., PE, Program Director, Design and Manufacturing Research Group, National Science Foundation
	Dr. A. Frederick Thompson, PE, Program Director, Environmental Technology, National Science Foundation