Performance evaluation of sustainable manufacturing systems

全球竞争、人口老龄化、全球变暖、水和化石能源等自然资源的稀缺和质量，是我们的世界在以可持续方式满足人类基本需求方面面临的最重要挑战。 这些问题和许多其他问题越来越多地影响制造商的经营方式。 传统上，制造商关注的是众所周知的性能指标，如产量最大化、生产率和质量改进。 如今，除了上述性能指标外，同一制造商还必须应对更严格的政府环境法规，不断增加对旧产品和产品制造中使用的无毒物质的征税。 由于这些限制和要求，拟议的研究计划解决了这些问题，目的是设计环保，可持续的制造系统和逆向物流系统，以及通过部署额外的有利可图的努力来补充传统的性能指标。 可持续性是“满足当代人的需求而不损害后代人满足其自身需求的能力”的能力。“逆向物流活动涉及废旧产品的逆向流动，这些产品将在产品层面（再利用、维修）、部件层面（再制造、拆件）或材料层面（回收）重新整合到供应链中。 在这种情况下，需要作出更多努力，重点是减少浪费和减少资源使用。 这些措施可以通过以下方式实现：（1）设计由无毒物质制成的产品，这有助于减轻监管负担，还可以避免在公司声誉方面发生价值破坏事件;（2）设计使用更少能源的工艺，这可以减少有毒排放并缓和高成本能源的影响。 因此，拟议的研究计划将侧重于开发模拟和分析模型，用于可持续制造系统的设计和实施以及逆向物流系统。

Global competition, aging population, global warming, scarcity and quality of natural resources, such as water and fossil energy, are among the most important challenges that our world is facing in order to meet basic human needs in a sustainable way. These issues and many others increasingly affect the way manufacturers do business. Traditionally speaking, a manufacturer is concerned about well-known performance measures such as yield maximization, productivity and quality improvement. Nowadays and in addition to the above-indicated measures of performance, the same manufacturer has to deal with tighter government environmental regulations, continuously increasing levies on used products, and toxic-free substances used in the manufacturing of products. Due to these restrictions and requirements, the proposed research program addresses these issues with the aim of designing environmentally conscious, sustainable manufacturing systems and reverse logistics systems, as well as supplementing the traditional performance measures by deploying additional profitable efforts. Sustainability is the ability to "meet the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Reverse logistics activities are concerned with the backward flow of used products that will be reintegrated in the supply chain at the product level (reuse, repair), the component level (remanufacturing, cannibalization), or the material level (recycling). The additional efforts required under these circumstances focus on cutting waste and reducing resource use. These measures can be accomplished through: (1) the design of products made of toxic-free substances which helps in cutting the regulatory burdens, and also avoids a value-destroying incident in terms of a company's reputation, and (2) the design of a process that uses less energy, which reduces toxic emissions and tempers the impact of high cost energy. Accordingly, the proposed research program will focus on developing simulation and analytical models for the design and implementation of sustainable manufacturing systems as well as for reverse logistics systems.