Green Manufacturing: Sustainability in Component Manufacturing

What Is Green Manufacturing?

Buzzwords like green and sustainable are thrown around in a rather haphazard manner, but diluting these terms has no benefit as there is incredible importance to pursuing sustainable practices across all industries, not only within manufacturing.

Green, or sustainable manufacturing is the practice of finding and implementing environmentally conscious methods within the manufacturing process; the implementation of these methods then reduces the environmental impact of each project individually, and hence largely minimises the impact of the manufacturing business.

The movement towards better environmental practice in the manufacturing industry has come as a result of increasing public and government recognition of both the struggling state of the environment and the role played by large manufacturing plants in this, hence it is more important than ever to assess our practices.

Component Manufacturing

Component manufacturing is a specific area of the manufacturing industry which references the manufacturing processes involved in the production of the individual components of a system.

PCML design and manufacture precision engineered parts and components which are custom made to high tolerances - our component manufacturing allows for intricate and thorough work to be performed by specialist engineers at each individual stage.

Sustainable Manufacturing

Design Considerations

As is the case with any design decision, it is an essential element of design to consider how different areas of the manufacturing process will affect the final result. When it comes to making more environmentally conscious decisions, the ‘final result’ being considered must expand beyond just the functionality and structure of the product but also the wider implications of the manufacturing processes. Designers must assume some responsibility for minimising the negative impacts of the manufacturing process by understanding and proposing greener design methods and tools.

Waste Reduction and Disposal Considerations

Waste products of the manufacturing business contribute to pollution in ways that we are still yet to fully understand; while innovative and essential, precision manufacturing is still a relatively new practice, so the waste produced by the processes involved are still foreign to the environment they enter when not properly and safely disposed of. It is important to consider ways to reduce waste and ensure proper disposal of wasted produced.

Extending Life-Cycles

Similar to the above, it is important to consider how long the product will exist for, and hence its biodegradability and recyclability become factors. Increasing the number of biodegradable and recyclable elements reduces the future impacts of the product.

Compostable and Biodegradable Plastics

Just as demand for sustainable practices grows, as do the methods of increasing and improving sustainability, so it is essential to keep up to date with research and trends,

At PCML, we believe that having a firm and established understanding of the intricacies of our manufacturing practices and the impact they have on the external environment is an essential responsibility of every business and it benefits us, our clients and the wider environment for us to consider the sustainability of our practices while ensuring that we are performing at our very best and providing excellent service.

Our expert engineering team are ready and available to discuss any questions or queries you may have so don’t hesitate to get in touch; call us on 01223 293904 or email [email protected].