Sustainable manufacturing is growing in importance for 21 st century industry and engineers. The Center is making significant contributions using both university resources and over two million dollars in external funding. Among the efforts currently underway are:

• research projects
• a new graduate fellowship
• co-sponsorship of a new EPA conference
• new international journal on sustainable manufacturing.
  

Research Projects

Dr. I.S. Jawahir and colleagues are currently busy with three sustainable manufacturing projects funded by the Department of Defense through ATI (Advanced Technology Institute, Charleston, SC). Just winding up is “Model Based Manufacturing SIP Support and Development of MBE Tools,” an effort devoted to developing predictive performance capabilities to help manufacturers increase efficiencies, lower costs, enhance product quality, and reduce energy use. The project team includes Dr. Keith Rouch, Dr. Oscar Dillon, Dr. Dusan Sekulic, Dr. Fazleena Badurdeen and Dr. Marwan Khraisheh.

For a second project, begun in late September, the University of Kentucky is collaborating with Boeing, GE Aviation and, TRS Technologies, on a project with the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC). The purpose of “The Next Generation Supply Chain Project” is to develop predictive performance models for improved process efficiency throughout the supply chain. At the same time, products will be studied from a sustainable point of view that focuses on the total product life-cycle including pre-manufacturing, manufacturing, use and post-use stages to incorporate the 6R approach developed at the University of Kentucky.

The third project, “Risk Assessment for Next Generation Supply Chain Readiness (RANGER),” began in October with many of the same partners; its focus will be to provide the US Air Force with supply chain risk management better able to identify, assess, and mitigate risk from a sustainability perspective while increasing visibility and interoperability across the supply chain. The latter two projects are multidisciplinary and include Dr. Tom Goldsby and Dr. Deepak Iyengar as well as graduate students from UK’s Gatton School of Business and Economics.

Together, the funding from these three projects amounts to approximately $2 million. For more information on these projects contact Dr. Fazleena Badurdeen or Dr. I. S. Jawahir.

A New Graduate Fellowship

The University has announced the new Ph.D. Fellowships in Sustainable Systems, an interdisciplinary program to be managed by the Center. This special degree program in sustainable systems will be based on traditional mentoring in the student’s “home” discipline,

but will also provide students with mentoring by a group of faculty from a number of different disciplines to ensure a successful transdisciplinary approach.

In addition to study in their chosen disciplines, all students will also receive a solid grounding in lean systems, a general approach to creating high performance zero waste operations derived from Toyota’s approach to manufacturing but applicable to any organization, be it industrial, gov­ernmental, nonprofit, etc. and a necessary step toward sustainability.

Approximately $40,000 per year in support will be provided to cover tuition, fees and living expenses for two years of graduate study at UK in engineering, business, psychology or statistics. The second year will be contingent upon satisfactory progress during the first, and students who complete the doctoral program will also receive certification in lean systems.

Applications are currently being accepted. More Information

Co-sponsorship of a new EPA conference

Along with NIST, NSF, and the AIChE Sustainable Engineering Forum, the University of Kentucky is a co-sponsor of the First International Congress on Sustainability Science and Engineering (ICOSSE) to be held August 9-12, 2009 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Promoted on the ICOSSE website as the conference “where Science and engineered technologies meet the needs of society,” its purpose is to provide a forum for the sharing of new crossdisciplinary ideas for sustainable products, processes, and systems. There is little agreement yet on exactly what sustainability encompasses, and the plan over time is for this congress to contribute to the development of a shared understanding. The format will include paper and poster

presentations, panel discussions, and open forums with the opening session setting the stage for the presentation of both achievements and challenges from many perspectives.

UK’s presence will be substantial during this event. Dr. I. S. Jawahir, Professor of Mechanical Engineering is a co-founder and vice chair for the conference. He and Dan Seevers of Lexmark will co-chair a session on Sustainable Material/Product Design/Manufacturing. Rich Alloo, General Manager-Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America and executive-in-residence at the Center is a member of the Programming Advisory Committee. The College of Engineering and the University are providing funding.

Journal on Sustainable Manufacturing

The first issue of The International Journal of Sustainable Manufacturing (IJSM), was published by Inderscience, this year with the Center’s Dr. I.S. Jawahir serving as editor-in-chief, Dr. Dusan Sekulic as a member of the Editorial Board, and articles co-authored by Dr. Jawahir, Dr. Marwan Khraisheh, and Dr. Oscar Dillon, both professors of Mechanical Engineering.

The journal fosters a discussion on developing various elements of science-based sustainability principles and their application to innovative products, processes and systems for manufacturing, emphasizing its economic,

environmental and societal aspects. Equally important is the establishment of an effective channel of communication between the academic, business, and governmental communities. Possible audiences include university faculty across varied disciplines, design and manufacturing engineers, social scientists, business persons, management and marketing researchers, product manufacturers, elected officials, and government administrators.