Greener Manufacturing and Operations

This timely work examines one core corporate function that has a profound and direct impact on corporate environmental performance – manufacturing and operations. This area has been of concern in recent years to researchers and practitioners in fields ranging from the social and natural sciences to management and technical engineering. The book reflects this diversity with global contributions on topics such as design for the environment, total quality environmental management, green supply chains, reverse logistics, environmental management systems and standards, industrial ecology, closed-loop manufacturing, life-cycle management, pollution prevention (P2), environmental technologies and energy efficiency.

The aim and scope of Greener Manufacturing and Operations is to capture state-of-the-art and future practices in environmental manufacturing and operations practices and issues in one concise volume. The book is therefore a fluid mix of case studies, empirical research, and applied theoretical works incorporating both conceptual ideas whose time will come to practical applications which managers and practitioners can apply immediately. Comprehensive in its coverage of the key issues, contributions range from a focus on the internal operations of a single function within an organization to a consideration of industrial manufacturing practices from a macro-economic level. A number of levels of decision-making are also represented: from long-term strategic issues such as supply chain design, to traditional short-term operations decision-making and planning issues such as production planning. Many of the principles developed and presented here can also be extended to the more general process management of service organizations. The book is organized into four major sections: operations strategy and policy; manufacturing and operations practice; tools for managing greener operations and manufacturing; and, finally, case studies.

Greener Manufacturing and Operations will be an essential aid for managers, engineers, students, researchers, and consultants wishing to understand the various issues, principles, and tools for managing the operations and manufacturing function in a more environmentally-benign and sustainable manner.