CERES :: Browsing by Author "Salonitis, Konstantinos"

Browsing by Author "Salonitis, Konstantinos"

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Open Access
Achieving net zero neighborhoods: a case study review of circular economy initiatives for South Wales
(Elsevier, 2024-07-11) Edwards, Jacob; Xia, Hanbing; Li, Qian Jan; Wells, Peter; Milisavljevic-Syed, Jelena; Gallotta, Alberto; Salonitis, Konstantinos
Adopting net zero neighborhoods (NZN) combined with circular economy are increasingly recognized as an essential strategy for construction companies, allowing their transition towards sustainability and contributing to climate change mitigation. Transforming existing neighborhoods into NZN is necessary to achieve energy self-sufficiency and net zero by 2050. The success of NZN hinges on government initiatives. However, existing studies appear to lack a comprehensive exploration of the transformation initiatives within NZN, spanning aspects like raw materials, construction practices, transportation, and waste management, particularly in terms of technological advancements. To address the gap, this research introduces a conceptual framework that integrates the multiple case studies design method with an urban transformative capacity model. This innovative framework is the first application of a multi-level urban transformative capacity model in transforming existing neighborhoods into NZN within a specific region. This research specifically utilizes South Wales in the UK as a case study. It identified four key initiatives in technology, construction, transportation, and waste management. These initiatives offer significant benefits, including fostering a more sustainable and environmentally friendly construction industry through enhanced traceability and efficiency, and simultaneously promoting social sustainability by improving community engagement, providing social benefits through sharing economy initiatives, and creating new green job opportunities.
Open Access
Analysing the evolution of aerospace ecosystem development
(Public Library of Science, 2020-04-28) Jose Jr., Luna A.; Brintrup, Alexandra; Salonitis, Konstantinos
Aerospace manufacturing industry is predicted to continue growing. Rising demand is triggering the current global aerospace ecosystem to evolve and adapt to challenges never faced before. New players into the aerospace manufacturing industry and the development of new ecosystems are evidencing its evolution. Understanding how the aerospace ecosystem has evolved is thus essential to prepare optimal conditions to nurture its growth. Recent studies have successfully combined economics and network science methods to map, analyse and predict the evolution of industrial ecosystems. In comparison to previous studies which apply network science-based methodologies to macro-economic research, this paper uses these methods to analyse the evolution of a particular industrial ecosystem, namely the aerospace sector. In particular, we develop bipartite country-product networks based on trade data over 25 years, to identify patterns and similarities in the evolution of developed aerospace manufacturing countries ecosystems. The analysis is elaborated at a macroscopic (network) and microscopic (nodes) levels. Motivated by studies in ecological networks, we use nestedness analysis to find patterns depicting the distribution and evolution of exported products across ecosystems. Our analysis reveals that developed ecosystems tend to become more analogous, as countries lean towards having a revealed comparative advantage (RCA) in the same group of products. Countries also tend to become more nested in their aerospace product space as they start developing a higher RCA. It is revealed that although countries develop an advantage on unique products, they also tend to increase competition with each other. Further analysis shows that manufactured products have a stronger correlation to an aerospace ecosystem than primary products; and in particular, the automotive sector shows the highest correlation with positive aerospace sector evolution. Competition between countries with well-developed aerospace ecosystems tends to centre on automotive parts, general industrial machinery, power generating machinery and equipment, and chemical materials and products.
Open Access
Analysis and modelling of cost of quality in aircraft tailplane assembly
(Cranfield University, 2015-08) Xu, Dexin; Salonitis, Konstantinos
With production quality playing a more and more important role in keeping the competitive power of company, Cost of Quality (CoQ) are paid more and more attention in manufacturing industries. Especially in aircraft manufacturing industry, due to the more stringent requirements on quality, the CoQ has been a serious issue for manager. However, due to the specificity of the industry, such as high-tech, low-volume, low degree of automation, the traditional generic CoQ models are not applied directly which make most of the aircraft manufacturing companies are lack of systematic method and efficient tool to analysis and manage CoQ. it is essential to develop a CoQ model which can be used to analyse and estimate the CoQ in the aircraft manufacturing industry. This research aims at developing a CoQ model for tailplane assembly which can help the quality manager to collect and store the quality issue and cost information, and estimate the CoQ and analyse the benefit of cost spent on quality. The CoQ elements are identified and defined based on the comparing results of the literature and actual operation data. Prevention-Appraisal-Failure (P-A-F)/ Activity-Based-Costing (ABC) system is applied to develop the CoQ estimation system. And Cost-Benefit-Analysis (CBA) is applied to analyse the benefit brought by the cost spend on quality. In order to collect enough professional data for the model, an industry survey is designed. Moreover, some GUIs are designed using VBA in MS Excel to improve the operability and practicability. Furthermore, two different cases and expert judgements are used to validate the developed CoQ model. The validation result illustrates that the developed model can help the user to estimate and analyse the CoQ in tailplane assembly, and supply a method to analyse quality issues quantitatively. And the overall performance of the model is approved by the experts in aircraft industry. The model is suit for aircraft industry and worth popularizing in this field.
Open Access
Analysis of lean manufacturing strategy using system dynamics modelling of a business model
(Emerald, 2019-08-22) Gomez Segura, Miguel; Oleghe, Omogbai; Salonitis, Konstantinos
A system dynamics-based methodology is described for analysing the impact of lean manufacturing strategies on a company's business performance, using Business Model Canvas perspective. A case study approach is used to describe the methodology which consists of conceptualizing a system dynamics model on the basis of Business Model Canvas. The base system dynamics model is elaborated to include variables and concepts that consider the effects of lean manufacturing metrics on business performance. In the modelling experimentation, the lean manufacturing metrics are made to take on likely values one would expect if certain lean practices are initiated or improved. The experimental results provide one with the likely impact on business performance, if one were to improve lean manufacturing practices. The simulation results for the case study show that lean improvements, on the short-run, have a significant impact on business performance, but on the long-run, the impact is only marginal. The described methodology provides one with a structured format for investigating the impact of lean practices on business performance. Although the developed system dynamics model was built with generality in mind, it remains to be reproduced in other settings to test its replicability. The methodology enables an organization target which lean improvements to initiate based on their strategic impact on the business. Limited studies exist where system dynamics and business models are combined to test the strategic impact of lean manufacturing.
Open Access
Analysis of the evolution of aerospace manufacturing ecosystems
(Cranfield University, 2020-06) Luna Andrade, Jose Junior; Salonitis, Konstantinos; Brintrup, Alexandra
The aerospace manufacturing industry is predicted to continue growing. Understanding its evolution is thus essential to prepare optimal conditions to nurture its growth. This research aims to help the growth of emerging aerospace ecosystems by identifying evolution patterns and categorising key enablers that have encouraged the growth of developed ones. The term aerospace ecosystem is used to embrace all the business activities and infrastructure that are related to the entire aerospace’s supply chain in a specific country. Inspired by studies that have successfully combined economics and network science, in this research, bipartite country-product networks are developed based on trade data over 25 years. The United Kingdom (UK), the United States of America, France, Germany, Canada and Brazil’s are first analysed as evidence suggests that their aerospace ecosystems are within the most developed in the world. Then, China and Mexico’s networks are analysed and compared with developed ones, as these countries have evidenced emergent aerospace ecosystems. Results reveal that developed ecosystems tend to become more analogous, as countries lean towards having a revealed comparative advantage (RCA) in the same group of products. Further analysis shows that manufactured products have a stronger correlation to an aerospace ecosystem than primary products; and in particular, the automotive sector shows the highest correlation with positive aerospace sector evolution. Key enablers related to the growth of the UK and Mexico’s aerospace ecosystems are identified and categorised using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) methodologies. Results evidence relevant differences in the categorisation of key enablers among a developed and emergent aerospace ecosystems. On the other hand, it was identified that geopolitical factors and the automotive ecosystem are underpinning enablers for both aerospace ecosystem’s evolution. The final aim is that results of this research could be implemented on emerging aerospace ecosystems by emulating the patterns and key enablers that have characterised the evolution of developed aerospace ecosystems.
Open Access
An approach to airline MRO operators planning and scheduling during aircraft line maintenance checks using discrete event simulation
(Elsevier, 2021-07-30) Albakkoush, Salah; Pagone, Emanuele; Salonitis, Konstantinos
The process of scheduling and planning refers to examining aircraft history based on when and where the aircraft should go for service checks. In this paper, the authors focused on line maintenance activities and examined the impact of unexpected factors (Missing tools and safety requirements) on such activities during the process through a Discrete Event Simulation (DES) model. The DES was used to determine the following: 1. The plan time of each maintenance task according to maintenance scheduling based on the X airline company in Libya; 2. A tasks and productivity evaluation which involved examining the number of tasks required to do per check according to the scheduling plan and planned tasks performed by technicians, and; 3. The total elapsed time involved by analysing the average time for each task according to maintenance schedule planning. The results show that, for all scenarios conducted, the DES model was operating at a high level, and in some scenarios, there was a breakdown in service tasks; a clear indication that the workload factor was high during check periods. However, the main finding in this study highlights how a number of different tasks or the breakdown of maintenance work packages were not being completed before the actual time that had been allocated for the general external condition A-check of the aircraft. This made it necessary to study the work package for each check separately and examine these work packages as they relate to DES which presents a potential solution to a more efficient planning approach. This feature enhances the applicability of the proposed method in real-life, and helps airlines cope with the dynamic environment of airline MRO.
Open Access
Approach to value stream mapping for make-to-order manufacturing
(Elsevier, 2020-09-22) Mudgal, Devanshu; Pagone, Emanuele; Salonitis, Konstantinos
This paper presents a new approach to the Value Stream Mapping (VSM), a proven tool of Lean Manufacturing (LM) in a Make-To-Order (MTO) manufacturing environment. The use of VSM in mass production has proven to be successful due to the predictable volume and repetitive product type. Within a MTO environment the product is tailored to specific requirements and varying volumes make it hard to balance production causing lean waste. The approach combines the classic VSM technique with commonality analysis to get a better understanding of the processes. Author illustrates this approach using a case study. Using VSM for MTO requires some changes to capture the attributes of product families required at different frequencies and volumes successfully
Open Access
Assessing the leanness of a supply chain using multi-grade fuzzy logic: a health-care case study
(Emerald, 2018-07-20) Almutairi, Abdulaziz Marzouq; Salonitis, Konstantinos; Al-Ashaab, Ahmed
Purpose Numerous and diverse organizations have implemented lean principles and practices, which concentrate on improving the efficiency of business processes by reducing cost, waste, consumptions and effort. However, previous assessments have not focused on the leanness of the supply chain in a health-care setting. This paper aims to introduce a method for assessing the successful implementation of lean principles and tools in a supply chain. Furthermore, this paper validates the method in a health-care organization. Design/methodology/approach This paper starts with an extensive literature review on assessing leanness and using multi-grade fuzzy logic. Then, a conceptual model was developed to measure leanness. The conceptual model was validated by discussing the initial version with select academic experts, especially those who deal with leanness in health-care organizations. After responding to the experts’ valuable comments, the health-care organization that is the focus of this case study was chosen based on two criteria. The first criterion was the organization’s ability to participate in the study, and the second was the organization’s commitment to implementing lean principles. These criteria were important to ensure the organization had the necessary foundation for implementing change initiatives such as lean process improvements. Next, a multi-grade (multi-attributes) fuzzy logic was used for leanness measurement. A leanness index was calculated, and the results were validated using experts from the case study organization. Finally, the weaker areas of the organization’s processes were identified to point the way for further improvements. Findings The assessment indicated that the case study organization is not lean. The organization’s weaker attributes were identified, and improvements have been suggested. Research limitations/implications This study focused on a single health-care organization, which was selected from a limited pool of potential organizations, namely, organizations which are accredited by both the Saudi Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions and the Joint Commission International. The scope of future research should be extended to multi-case studies to enhance the findings presented in this paper. This paper’s findings can be used to help decision-makers at health-care providers to implement lean thinking in supply chain processes. Practical implications This research may be interest to practicing supply chain managers, as it proposes what enablers, factors and attributes should be emphasized in lean implementation. The proposed model can work as an assessment tool to identify the gap between the present level of leanness and the desired leanness state so the health-care organization can identify what can be improved. This model enables decision-makers in hospital supply chain to take suitable actions for improving lean implementation level. Originality/value This study makes an original contribution to the body of research concerning lean principles; the study developed a conceptual model for leanness assessment that can be applied to the supply chain of health-care organizations. Indeed, the conceptual model is likely to be useful for assessing leanness outside of the health-care field, which suggests avenues for future research.
Open Access
Assessment of an emerging aerospace manufacturing cluster and its dependence on the mature global clusters.
(Elsevier, 2018-02-08) Luna, José; Addepalli, Sri; Salonitis, Konstantinos; Makatsoris, Harris
This study assesses the aerospace manufacturing industry of an emerging cluster by using Porter’s Diamond model. The assessment is used to identify its dependence from mature global markets and the elements that are behind its dependence. In the first part of the paper, an introduction to the current landscape, the market trends and challenges of the aerospace industry is presented. Then, a case study of an emerging aerospace manufacturing cluster is undertaken: the case of Mexico. The results indicated that the aerospace industry in this country has positively developed, however, it is still highly dependent on mature global markets. Recently launched strategies and programs from the government, evidence that it is aiming to impulse the growth of the aerospace industry and to reduce its dependence on foreign markets.
Open Access
An assessment of environmental related key performance indicators of the chemical industries
(IOS Press, 2022-09-08) Alfarsi, Alaa; Jagtap, Sandeep; Salonitis, Konstantinos
One of the most critical issues faced by chemical industries is reducing the environmental impact caused due to pollution, which has resulted in global warming and health issues. Most chemical industries monitor and use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to control pollution, which is currently done by using various KPI’s that are dependent on the product they are producing. Therefore, a study is conducted using a systematic literature review (SLR) focused on articles published between 2000 and 2022 to identify and categorize various KPIs that manufacturers have used to reduce their respective pollution. The results were divided into four main categories – air, water, land, and other pollution. The results demonstrated that ethylene manufacturing industries are the major contributor to air pollution. The mining, gas, and oil industries significantly resulted in water pollution. The land and groundwater pollution were mainly due to mining industries. The other pollution was mainly due to activities such as maintenance and performance of equipment and quality of raw materials.
Open Access
Automated assembly of Li-ion vehicle batteries: A feasibility study
(Elsevier, 2020-09-22) D’Souza, Ryan; Patsavellas, John; Salonitis, Konstantinos
Electric Vehicles (EVs) with rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries (Li-ion) are at the forefront of the global trend for lower-emission transportation and decarbonisation. Capable suppliers of Li-Ion battery assembly systems are essential for enabling automotive OEMs to scale up their Li-ion EV production to expected volumes. This paper details a feasibility study for Li-Ion battery assembly, developed for a traditional automotive supplier of niche production systems in order to enable them to enter the emerging lower carbon OEM supply chains. Through simulation modelling, the essential components of a reconfigurable and scalable EV Li-ion batteries assembly system with provision for disassembly are explored and a generic framework is proposed.
Open Access
Automatically weighted high-resolution mapping of multi-criteria decision analysis for sustainable manufacturing systems
(Elsevier, 2020-02-01) Pagone, Emanuele; Salonitis, Konstantinos; Jolly, Mark R.
A common feature of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) to evaluate sustainable manufacturing is the participation (to various extents) of Decision Makers (DMs) or experts (e.g. to define the importance, or “weight”, of each criterion). This is an undesirable requirement that can be time consuming and complex, but it can also lead to disagreement between multiple DMs. Another drawback of typical MCDA methods is the limited scope of weight sensitivity analyses that are usually performed for one criterion at the time or on an arbitrary basis, struggling to show the “big picture” of the decision making space that can be complex in many real-world cases. This work removes all the mentioned shortcomings implementing automatic weighting through an ordinal combinatorial ranking of criteria objectively set by four pre-defined weight distributions. Such solution provides the DM not only with a fast, rational and systematic method, but also with a broader and more accurate insight into the decision making space considered. Additionally, the entropy of information in the criteria can be used to adjust the weights and emphasise the differences between potentially close alternative
Open Access
Benchmarking of energy consumption and CO2 emissions in cement production: a case study
(Springer, 2024-02-02) Sarfraz, Shoaib; Sherif, Ziyad; Jolly, Mark; Salonitis, Konstantinos
In the pursuit of economic growth and value creation, foundation industries including cement, metals, glass, chemicals, paper, and ceramics face formidable challenges related to energy usage, emissions, and resource consumption in their manufacturing operations, all while striving to achieve ambitious Net Zero carbon and green targets. To overcome these challenges and propel sustainable progress, benchmarking emerges as a powerful ally. This study performs a benchmarking analysis of energy use and CO2 emissions for a UK cement plant as well as best available techniques (BAT) investigation to identify opportunities for performance improvement in crucial areas such as energy usage and environmental sustainability. The research utilises industrial data from a 2850 tonne per day capacity dry process cement plant. Key energy and emissions parameters, including thermal and electrical energy intensity, recovered energy and CO2 intensity, are computed per tonne of cement produced along with capacity utilisation across major process stages including raw material grinding, clinkerisation, and cement grinding. Comprehensive data sourced directly from the manufacturer is compared against literature benchmarks for global averages and best practices. Although surpassing global average values, the plant lags European best practices across all metrics, signalling room for substantial improvement. Assessment of relevant BATs for the cement industry reveals prospects to integrate vertical roller mills for cement grinding and use Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) at the clinkerisation stage. Adopting these techniques could reduce the electrical energy intensity of clinkerisation by 51% and cement grinding electrical intensity by 30%, surpassing benchmarks. While limited to a single cement plant, the study provides a standardised methodology that could be replicated across foundation industries to enable performance tracking and highlight efficiency gaps. The benchmarking approach developed can guide the implementation of energy conservation measures and the adoption of best practices by the cement industry to reduce its carbon footprint.
Open Access
Business process re-engineering to digitalise quality control checks for reducing physical waste and resource use in a food company
(MDPI, 2021-11-09) Garcia-Garcia, Guillermo; Coulthard, Guy; Jagtap, Sandeep; Afy-Shararah, Mohamed; Patsavellas, John; Salonitis, Konstantinos
Quality control is an essential element of manufacturing operations that reduces product defects and provides excellent products of the right specifications to the end consumer. Industry 4.0 solutions, such as digitalisation, along with lean manufacturing tools, may support quality control operations. This paper presents a case study of a food company wherein quality control checks were optimised using business process re-engineering to reduce physical waste and resource usage. Following close analysis of the company’s pack-house operations, it was proposed to adopt elements of Industry 4.0 by digitalising the quality control process. Implementing such a solution led to a reduction in the time needed to complete recorded checks, an increase in the time the pack-house quality control team spends with packers on the production lines, and the facilitation of defects identification. It also ensured that the product met the customers’ specifications and reduced the likelihood of rejection at the customers’ depot. The new system also enabled monitoring of each line in real-time and gathering of additional information faster and more accurately. This article proves how employing lean principles in combination with Industry 4.0 technologies can lead to savings in resources and a reduction in waste, which leads to improvements in operational efficiency.
Open Access
Carbon accounting management in complex manufacturing supply chains: a structured framework approach
(Elsevier, 2022-05-26) Kaur, Rashmeet; Patsavellas, John; Haddad, Yousef; Salonitis, Konstantinos
Improving the management of carbon emissions in the drive to Net-Zero can involve both complex measurements and the development of cleaner technologies, which is a demanding challenge for both the private and public sectors. Specifically, within complex and often sensitive supply chains such as aerospace manufacturing, accounting for carbon management requires quantification of the extended enterprise’s direct and indirect emissions as a system. Currently however, there is a lack of standardised methods for carbon accounting suitable for use in the measurement and auditing of carbon performance both in the production process as well as in the supply chain. This research presents a structured framework-based approach, that could facilitate accurate, consistent and simplified management of carbon scoping, measurement and reporting, across complex extended supply chains. The proposed five step approach sets a thematic orientation for future customisation of carbon accounting tools at every step of the framework.
Open Access
Carbon footprint comparison of bitcoin and conventional currencies in a life cycle analysis perspective
(Elsevier, 2023-04-18) Pagone, Emanuele; Hart, Alexandre; Salonitis, Konstantinos
Cryptocurrencies are a digital form of money based on the blockchain technology. Their relatively recent raise in popularity and use, together with the energy-intensive nature of some of their algorithms, has raised environmental concerns about growing energy consumption (and associated carbon dioxide emissions). This paper aims at comparing the environmental impact of the most common cryptocurrency (i.e., Bitcoin) and fiat currencies (i.e. coins, banknotes, credit and debit card networks). Such comparison is carried out assessing and analyzing the life cycle main phases of each currency in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. Results show that Bitcoin has a carbon footprint almost 4 to 5 times greater than the sum of all forms of traditional currency together in one year. Furthermore, environmental impact “hotspots” of fiat currency including raw material production of coins, transportation of banknotes and electric energy consumption of ATMs are identified. Finally, considering future scenarios and the sensitivity of various parameters on the results, some solutions are proposed to reduce the environmental impact of currencies.
Open Access
The carbon footprint of manufacturing digitalization: Critical literature review and future research agenda
(Elsevier, 2019-06-24) Patsavellas, John; Salonitis, Konstantinos
As the world of manufacturing is accelerating to its digital paradigm, it could become a significant generator of energy-consuming data. The storage of such data is facilitated by the proliferation of easily accessible cloud services, whilst the cost of transmission and storage has significantly dropped. Within a sustainability context, the carbon-footprint characteristics of these masses of data-capture, transmission, storage and management have not been given adequate due-diligence. A cause of this omission may be the assumption that renewable forms of energy generation and storage, may eventually render the big cloud data-centers carbon neutral. However, such assumptions may be pre-mature and not synchronized with unfolding realities, as the carbon footprint implications of the industry 4.0 discourse have not been assessed. This paper ascertains the absence of any structured assessment framework of CO2 emissions of the various components of industrial digitalization, as an evaluation tool of the accelerating digital transformation of manufacturing within a sustainable growth context.
Open Access
Carbon nanotubes and graphene radiant heater printed on a cementitious flooring substrate: a feasibility study
(SSRN, 2020-10-26) Patsavellas, John; Salonitis, Konstantinos; Koziol, Krzysztof K. K.; Zakrzewski, Lukasz; Blackwood, Ben
The human activity of heating homes contributes a significant amount of CO2 in the total of the UK Green House Gases and the process of retrofitting residential stock and equipping new dwellings with lower and carbon neutral technologies could be complex, costly and physically challenging. This paper investigates the feasibility of a composite mixture of carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphene material applied as a printed layer to the underside of a cementitious flooring substrate, acting as a radiant underfloor heater. Screening sample tests confirm instant radiant heating at low DC voltages with remarkably low conduction heat losses through the substrate.
Open Access
Ceramic matrix composites for aero engine applications - a review
(MDPI, 2023-02-26) Karadimas, George; Salonitis, Konstantinos
Ceramic matrix materials have attracted great attention from researchers and industry due to their material properties. When used in engineering systems, and especially in aero-engine applications, they can result in reduced weight, higher temperature capability, and/or reduced cooling needs, each of which increases efficiency. This is where high-temperature ceramics have made considerable progress, and ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) are in the foreground. CMCs are classified into non-oxide and oxide-based ones. Both families have material types that have a high potential for use in high-temperature propulsion applications. The oxide materials discussed will focus on alumina and aluminosilicate/mullite base material families, whereas for non-oxides, carbon, silicon carbide, titanium carbide, and tungsten carbide CMC material families will be discussed and analyzed. Typical oxide-based ones are composed of an oxide fiber and oxide matrix (Ox-Ox). Some of the most common oxide subcategories are alumina, beryllia, ceria, and zirconia ceramics. On the other hand, the largest number of non-oxides are technical ceramics that are classified as inorganic, non-metallic materials. The most well-known non-oxide subcategories are carbides, borides, nitrides, and silicides. These matrix composites are used, for example, in combustion liners of gas turbine engines and exhaust nozzles. Until now, a thorough study on the available oxide and non-oxide-based CMCs for such applications has not been presented. This paper will focus on assessing a literature survey of the available oxide and non-oxide ceramic matrix composite materials in terms of mechanical and thermal properties, as well as the classification and fabrication methods of those CMCs. The available manufacturing and fabrication processes are reviewed and compared. Finally, the paper presents a research and development roadmap for increasing the maturity of these materials allowing for the wider adoption of aero-engine applications.
Open Access
The challenges for energy efficient casting processes
(Elsevier, 2016-02-19) Salonitis, Konstantinos; Zeng, Binxu; Mehrabi, Hamid Ahmad; Jolly, Mark R.
Casting is one of the oldest, most challenging and energy intensive manufacturing processes. A typical modern casting process contains six different stages, which are classified as melting, alloying, moulding, pouring, solidification and finishing respectively. At each stage, high level and precision of process control is required. The energy efficiency of casting process can be improved by using novel alterations, such as the Constrained Rapid Induction Melting Single Shot Up-casting process. Within the present study the energy consumption of casting processes is analyzed and areas were great savings can be achieved are discussed. Lean thinking is used to identify waste and to analyse the energy saving potential for casting industry.