An environmental performance resource impact indicator for life cycle management in the manufacturing industry

Abstract

Life cycle management (LCM) implies that the environmental impacts associated with suppliers must be incorporated in the decision-making framework of manufacturing facilities. In the developing country context, little environmental information is available and an environmental performance resource impact indicator (EPRII) is proposed to assess suppliers based on three simple operational parameters: water use, energy use, and waste produced. By translating EPRII results per economic value, it is shown that the operational expenditure of an automotive original equipment manufacturer on suppliers is not directly related to the environmental burdens associated with supplied components. From a product LCM perspective, the EPRII approach can reflect the environmental burdens per assembled product or automobile.