Metrics for Sustainable Manufacturing

A sustainable manufacturing strategy requires metrics for decision making at all levels of the enterprise. In this paper, a methodology is developed for designing sustainable manufacturing metrics given the specific concerns to be addressed. A top-down approach is suggested that follows the framework of goal and scope definition: (1) goal - what are the concerns addressed and what is the appropriate metric type to achieve the goal (2) scope - what is the appropriate geographic and manufacturing extent. In this methodology a distinction is made between environmental cost metrics and sustainability metrics. Utilizing this methodology, metrics focused on energy use, global climate change, non-renewable resource consumption, and water consumption are developed.