Page 73 - Shaping A Sustainable Future

An evaluation of critical environmental aspects of the business is presented in Table 2.

Inputs Outputs
Raw material to produce components. - Essential for the fabrication of components.
- Removal of materials is necessary.
- Select the size of raw material near the required final size of
the component to reduce the number of metal chips removed.
Cutting fluid - Essential for an efficient cutting process.
- Possible to recycle the cutting fluid by removing the used oil, a
contaminated portion of the cutting fluid.
Water - Recycling of cutting fluid in CNC machines would lead to water
saving.
- A more frequent change of filters in the EDM wire-cut machine
would lessen the frequency of changing water (dielectric fluid).
- Use of re-cycle water to clean floor.
Transportation - Not possible to accomplish without changing the layout of the
machines.
Electricity - Essential for powering of machinery and equipment, lightings
and air- conditioners. The power consumption of these items
is constant.
- Possible power reduction from air-conditioners and lighting.
Air-conditioner - Provides thermal comfort to workers.
- Essential operations as these require a specific temperature
for optimum output. An example is the quality control lab,
requiring a standard operating temperature of 20 C.
o
- Possible control is to operate the air- conditioners according to
the recommended temperature.
- Water condensate collected from the air- conditioners can be
reused instead of disposing to the environment.

Table 2: Evaluation of possible area to focus.

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