Thesis
A new sustainability assessment approach in manufacturing a stakeholders' role
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2022
- Thesis identifier
- T16326
- Person Identifier (Local)
- 201474362
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- With increasing consumer awareness about sustainability and governmental policies to address environmental challenges and social responsibility, the manufacturing sector is under continuous pressure to adopt more sustainable practices. There is a growing realisation that the manufacturing sector should adopt a proactive approach toward sustainability assessment, appreciate local and global sustainability trends, and incorporate stakeholders’ sustainability concerns in manufacturing practices. Trends show that Factories of the Future (FOF) will need to adapt to market demands, growing economic and ecological efficiency requirements, and corporate social responsibility; such versatility is vital to address consumer disquiet and sustainability expectations. There have been various approaches proposed to assess sustainability over the last few decades. Most of these approaches have limitations in that they are of marginal relevance to the manufacturing environment, tend to focus on only one aspect of sustainability, or are too complicated for most organisations to implement. Moreover, numerous studies have shown a gap in sustainability expectations among various stakeholders, and no active mechanisms exist to prioritise sustainability in manufacturing. This research introduced a novel approach to addressing the manufacturer and multiple stakeholders’ expectations about sustainability prioritisations in manufacturing practices. It achieved this using a modified Quality Function Deployment (QFD) tool and AHP and normalisation techniques. QFD has been used across the manufacturing sector to prioritise stakeholders’ preferences and build them into the desired products or services. However, this research demonstrated a novel way of how QFD based approach can be used for sustainability assessment purposes. A set of system boundaries was adopted to evaluate sustainability in the manufacturing context; this research was a ‘Gate to Gate’ border. The proposed assessment approach will help manufacturers better understand the link between the sustainability dimensions, multiple stakeholders’ expectations involved directly or indirectly in manufacturing and account for their influence, and manufacturing functions, as well as assisting in setting performance targets that more fully consider both legal aspects and sector and organisational requirements. These indicators and a score-based approach will help organisations better grasp how manufacturing operations interact with sustainability and decision-making. They will help improve the allocation of corporate resources used to manage and improve sustainability performance in manufacturing.
- Advisor / supervisor
- Ion, William J.
- Resource Type
- DOI
Relations
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PDF of thesis T16326 | 2023-01-20 | Public | Download |