Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing: Utility Tradeoffs and Statistical Analysis for Pollution Prevention

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9528629 Thurston This grant provides funding to develop a robust theoretical foundation for design decisionmaking for pollution prevention. The research will develop a rigorous new method for integrating quantitative decision analysis over the entire range of product design, manufacture, use and disposal. Specifically, a methodology for combining statistical manufacturing process control with lifecycle analysis and concurrent multiobjective design optimization will be developed. Pollution and its removal cost will be treated as product defects. This project will significantly expand on previous work to develop design tools that can be used by any industry. Procedures for classes of manufacturing processes and their resultant waste streams will be specified. If successful, United States manufacturers will be better able to integrate the unique, site-specific considerations of the international marketplace into their design analysis to identify optimal pollution prevention strategies. The goal is not to attempt to identify the "environmentally correct" alternative. Instead, it is to develop a mathematically rigorous method for modeling tradeoffs under uncertainty between pollution, cost and quality. The best combination of strategies will be identified, including specification of the product design, materials, manufacturing process design and manufacturing process control settings. Instead of generating pollution, waiting for the regulators to respond, then paying the price, manufacturers will be able to anticipate these events and integrate them into the design decision-making process. The twin benefits are that their products will then possess a strategic advantage in the marketplace, and also generate less pollution.