Simulation-based analysis for sustainability of manufacturing system

In recent years, manufacturing industries are required to minimize the negative impact on the environment and communities. To do this, first of all, it is necessary to measure and assess the impact of manufacturing systems. Simulation has been very useful tool that can verify the current manufacturing systems or planning a new one for their continuous improvement. However, it has been just focused on the efficiency from the productivity’s point of view, for example, removing the waste of time and cost, maximizing the efficiency of manufacturing resources, etc. If the scope of simulation is extended to sustainable manufacturing, it is possible to assess the impact of manufacturing systems and minimize the negative impact on the earth. Simulation technology is able to be a very useful tool to achieve sustainability in manufacturing industries. This paper suggests a simulation-based analysis system for sustainable manufacturing. First of all, we investigate the existing literatures and studies to define sustainable manufacturing and sustainability. Then, input and output data are defined to generate simulation model for sustainability. The system prototype is developed including all concepts for simulation-based analysis for sustainable manufacturing. Finally, the developed system is applied to the case study with various scenarios for what-if analyses.