Evaluating The Ecological Sustainability Of Production Networks – A Data-based Approach

Abstract

The design of global production networks influences the ecological sustainability of manufacturing operations, since it determines the environment with which a production process interacts. Historically sustainability has not been a primary goal for the design of production networks and its evaluation remains a challenge. The multiple goals of sustainability and complex structures of production networks constitute to a high modelling effort that can only be managed with databased solutions. To further decrease the modelling expenditures, the data used in such a solution should be already available or easy to obtain. This paper presents a methodology and data framework to evaluate various ecological sustainability goals, which are impacted by the design of global production networks. The approach is validated with a company that produces electrical appliances.