How to Manufacture a Sustainable Future for 9 Billion People in 2050

Research Area:
Eco-Intelligent Manufacturing

Year:
2013

Publication:
20th CIRP International Conference on Life Cycle Engineering (LCE13)

SMART Authors:
Shahin Rahimifard , James Colwill , Leila Sheldrick


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There is a growing body of evidence which increasingly points to serious and irreversible ecological consequences if current unsustainable manufacturing practices ad consumption patterns continue. Recent years have seen a rising awareness leading to the generation of both national and international regulations, resulting in modest improvements in manufacturing practices. These incremental changes however are not making the necessary progress toward eliminating or even reversing the environmental impacts of global industry. Therefore, a fundamental research question is `how can future of manufacturing industry` A common approach adopted in such cases is to utilize exercises to develop a number of alternative future scenarios to aid with long-term strategic planning. This paper presents the results of one such study to create a set of `SMART Manufacturing Scenarios` for 2050.

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