Major Research - Integrated Systems Approach
Integrated systems approach
The research performed within the EvMM program relies to a significant degree on a systems approach. In the first instance, this requires that the boundaries of the manufacturing facility include environmental control technologies, waste emissions, and environmental impacts. This approach is fundamentally different from system definition practices during the "firefighting" era referred to above. Although there are numerous ways to characterize problems within a systems framework, a systems approach works best when technical and economic factors are quantified, and multiple environmental, managerial, ethical and regulatory constraints are incorporated into the analysis. As such, it is ideally suited for the conduct of multidisciplinary research.
One aspect of environmental manufacturing management that has limited systematic research efforts is the unique character of most manufacturing processes. To a degree, this is reflected in the structure of the proposed training program (see Educational Program which contains elements during the first one and one-half years devoted to the definition of specific research topics for the assembled research groups. Nevertheless, enough experience has been gathered such that general research thrust areas can be identified, and their joint relationships explored and used as a basis for framing research problems and questions to be investigated. These areas are: Technical Design of Improved Processes and Products, Assessment Tools for EvMM, Implementation of EvMM Practices, and Integrated Environmental Data Management Systems. Table 1 contains a listing of faculty research interests within the EvMM program and identifies those with primary responsibilities in each area.
Faculty Responsibilities and Research Interests in Environmental Manufacturing Management
| Research Thrust Area* | ||||
| Systems Analysis | Technical Design | Assessment Tools | Implementation | Integrated Management Data |
| Theis Grimberg Mahmoodi Powers Young |
Zander Baltus Bommer Campbell Grimberg Powers Theis |
Powers Hopke Menz Rossner Theis Young Zander |
Menz Bommer Hopke Karis Mahmoodi Rossner Vitek |
Young Campbell Hopke |
The figure below provides an overview of how it is intended that these areas will be integrated into the systems approach. In performing the initial analysis of the system, the person or person(s) responsible for choosing among alternatives to be generated must be recognized. The identity, viewpoint, and level of responsibility of the decision-maker(s), be they CEO, vice-president, plant manager, citizens' group, customers, or regulators, are likely to be important factors in establishing both the objective of the analysis and the required level of complexity at which the system is to be addressed. Sample objectives might be to maximize profits, social benefits, or regulatory efficiency; or to minimize risk, wastes generated, or energy used. In each case a different alternative will be generated by the systems analysis. It is from these alternatives that decision makers choose, in so doing establishing design or policy practices.
Overview of the Integrated Systems Approach to Environmental Manufacturing Management.
The dotted boundaries of the figure encompass the technological function of the system, "technological" used in this case in its broader sense to mean how factors comprising Design, Assessment, and Implementation function together for a given system. As suggested above, the systems approach works best when these relationships are quantitatively understood. This, of course, does not preclude the use of uncertainty in a given analysis, but it does discourage imprecise or vague characterizations (for example a probabilistic approach to risk quantification can be quite useful, but a statement such as "the risk should be small" is not). Much of the research described in each research area is devoted to new approaches to measuring these interrelationships, and methods for analyzing data from across several functions of the system. For this reason Integrated Environmental Data Management is included as a research area to be addressed in this proposal. This area pertains to all technological aspects of the system characterization.
Performance of a systems analysis requires the definition of important system variables and the ways in which they interact. Once these interactions are understood, the component parts and factors are integrated through a systematic assembly procedure. Normally this results in the construction of a mathematical optimization model which contains the technological functions of the system. There are usually a very large number of feasible solutions to these equations; the best, or optimal, of these is the one that maximizes (or minimizes) the objective. Once an optimal solution to the problem is found, various external constraints, such as unit costs, interest rates, new material properties, waste disposal impacts, and regulatory limits, can be varied within expected ranges to develop a realistic picture of the behavior of the system. It is this picture that is presented to the decision maker in the form of an alternative. Other alternatives are generated for different objectives. For example the analysis of a proposed new manufacturing process and/or product modification might be conducted subject to an objective of maximizing profitability, for which it would be necessary to constrain the system at predetermined (and presumably acceptable) levels of waste control, risk, labor skill level, marketability, etc. On the other hand, the same modification could be analyzed subject to minimum waste production (or skill level, or risk, or maximal marketability) while fixing profit margins. The resulting alternatives will generally be quite different.
Once a solution to the problem is found, it is necessary that it be physically tested to ensure conformity with expected behavior. This is usually done for individual subsystems (e.g. technical, economic, risk communication, etc.) at a realistic scale. A total system test is also desirable and should be carried out if conditions allow.
From the foregoing it is clear that defining the objective (and hence decision maker) of an analysis is a critical factor since it will, in turn, define the way in which the technological relationships among system variables and the data that must be collected are to be used. A given treatment of the problem would be expected to generate multiple alternatives, reflecting different objectives. Selections made among these alternatives constitute corporate, socioeconomic, or regulatory policy. Establishing policy is not the direct goal of this program, however it is asserted that alternatives should be generated through integration of all relevant factors, and that it is precisely the lack of such an integrated approach that has led to public and corporate discourse on this topic that is often incomplete and antagonistic.
