Simulation with sustainability aspects in the manufacturing system concept phase

The connections between product, processes and manufacturing systems are becoming more complex. Sustainability related issues are important and they are adding to the complexity of the design process. The amount of data that is needed for decision making is growing and multiple parameters and constraints must be considered simultaneously. Simulation and modeling can be used to analyze the performance of the product and production system, using traditional production performance measures and also taking into account environmental sustainability related performance measures. This poster presents research efforts for a novel concept for a simulation-based manufacturing and sustainability decision making system for the early product manufacturability evaluation and conceptual design phase of manufacturing systems. The research presented in this poster has been carried out within the frames of the EPES, "Eco-Process Engineering System for composition of services to optimize product life-cycle" international collaboration project co-funded by the European Commission.