Steve Ellis of Hickory, North Carolina and CEO & President of Automated Solutions LLC. details how automated manufacturing plants should be thinking about the sustainability of their machines & their impact. Please feel free to view, comment, and share. Check back again soon for more updates and slideshares!

1. Moving Towards
Sustainable Manufacturing
Steve Ellis

2. Sustainability
You are working hard on improving the sustainability of your
business and want to know how to properly execute that goal
You have made some great headway and your work has improved
the bottom line and now you’re wondering what’s next
Taking the next step involves exploring how to design sustainability
into your machines, conveyance, and information infrastructure
Since manufacturers rarely get the opportunity to build new plants
with state of the art machines, they must undergo incremental
changes and build accordingly
Manufacturers need to explore how to design sustainability into
their machines

3. U.S. Sustainability Rules
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s definition of
sustainable manufacturing, is detailed by 4 key factors
listed here:
1. Minimize negative environmental impacts
2. Conserve energy and natural resources
3. Are safe for employees, communities and
consumers
4. Are economically sound

4. A Global View
Certain manufacturing processes can be quite
harmful
For instance the manufacturing process for
batteries is so harsh that most battery suppliers
offshore their manufacture to countries with
environmental standards that are much more
lenient than those the United States enforces
The negative impact of battery manufacturing
includes the release of harmful byproducts
such as acid, unassimilated lead and sulphur
dioxide
The byproducts contaminate soil, drinking
water, and air
Similar damage occurs when batteries are
disposed

5. Global View Cont.
The second area of change in which we can design with
sustainability in mind is in reducing consumption of natural
resources
Energy and raw materials for machines and products are quite
limited and most be used sparingly and responsibly
Multifunction machines and flexible design are effective at reducing
energy consumption as well as component materials
Machines and conveyance should be designed to be as energy-efficient,
compact and multifunctional as possible within cost and
production constraints

6. Conclusion
Now that you have
made some great
progress in improving
sustainability in your
factory its time to take a
hard look at how to
design sustainability into
machines