Proposal # 9421257 University of Southern California This research proposes to develop a comprehensive methodology for capturing the life-cycle impacts of environmental unfriendliness in discrete part manufacturing. The output of this research is a means by which businesses can obtain the environmental status of their operations. Status may be defined by the collective life-cycle impact (measured appropriately) of the products/process under the manager's authority. For example, environmental life-cycle impact status of a particular products line produced by current physical process could be visualized as a vector of measurable attributes, categorized under the taxonomy of human impact, ecological impact, and socio-economic impact, that are aggregated at the business unit level. The life-cycle impact include impacts caused by purchasing/selling processes (including parts/materials/supplies/services/finished goods), receiving/storing/maintaining processes (including parts/materials/ supplies/ equipment/ finished goods) production process (including assembly and packaging), transportation process (including purchased items/work-in-process/finished goods/equipment/waste), disposal process (including parts/materials,supplies/service/finished goods/equipment/ waste). Also considered, will be the effects of product use, recycling/ reuse/ remanufacturing environmental impacts. The methodology developed will be transformed into a computer-based tool that managers will be able use to determine trade-off and manage technological innovations to improve environmental friendliness of their products and process. This research will be conducted with the help of TRW and Motorola, who will contribute detailed operations-related information on products as well as help in the development/ implementation of measures, methodology and tools in a corporate setting. The tools developed will be used to assess the environmental implications of three products, two at TRW and one at Motorola. The produ cts at TRW include Airbag System and Diagnostic Module unit used in automotive airbags, currently in production and the Remote Convenience System which will be in the production in 1996. The product at Motorola is the pager.
