scholarly journals Environmental performance assessment (EPA): a case study in a graphic company

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 593-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Girotto Rebelato ◽  
Luciana Maria Saran ◽  
Thiago Pereira Paulino ◽  
Andréia Marize Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Performance Indicator ◽  
Industrial Effluent ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Environmental Performance Assessment ◽  
Graphic Service

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a case report involving environmental performance analysis of a big Brazilian graphic company. Design/methodology/approach An “environmental performance indicator” (Iepa) was developed, which is calculated taking into consideration the weighting of potential environmental impact of each residue/sub-product generated, the relative spatial dispersion which each residue/sub-product can reach and adequacy evaluation of final allocation accomplished by the company for each residue/sub-product. Findings Despite the evidence that the corporations emit gases generated by the burning of volatile organic compounds to the atmosphere, the result obtained is favorable to enterprise, largely, due to the adequate allocation given to industrial effluent, which is the waste with the largest share on Iepa (50.2 percent). Industrial effluent is collected by a company licensed by Environmental Sanitation Company of the state of São Paulo, which is an environmentally adequate practice. The result of Iepa=90.8 percent is explained by the large amount of CO2 emitted by the operations into the atmosphere throughout the year. Practical implications The method used can be applied to measure the environmental impact generated by any business of a graphic service sector. Originality/value The authors observed, in the specialized literature, a small number of works dealing with the environmental management of graphic sector companies, as well as methodologies for assessing the environmental performance of companies through environmental performance indicators. The originality of the work is in the developed method, which takes into account: the potential impact of each residue/sub-product generated; the amount of each residue/sub-product generated in a given time period; the dispersion that each residue/sub-product can attain; and the evaluation of eventual allocation of each residue/sub-product.

scholarly journals Environmental performance analysis: foundry industry case report

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Girotto Rebelato ◽  
Luciana Maria Saran ◽  
Vitor Bernardes Cury ◽  
Andréia Marize Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Case Report ◽  
Performance Analysis ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Performance Indicator ◽  
Favorable Result ◽  
Molding Sand ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Foundry Industry ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Potential Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a case report involving environmental performance analysis of a small Brazilian business from the foundry industry. Design/methodology/approach An environmental performance indicator was developed (Iepa) which is calculated taking into consideration the weighting of potential environmental impacts of each residue/sub product generated, the relative spatial dispersion which each residue/sub product can reach, and the adequacy evaluation of final allocation accomplished by the company for each residue/sub product. Findings Despite the evidence that the corporation do not conduct washing of gases emitted from the chimney of the foundry furnace, which consists an environmentally inadequate attitude, the result of Iepa=97.50 percent was obtained. This favorable result is due to the adequate allocation given to residues generated in greater volume in the process, the molding sand. This sand is addressed to an industrial landfill, which is an environmentally adequate practice and approved by competent environmental authorities. Practical implications The method used can be applied to measure the environmental impact generated by any business of the foundry sector industry. Originality/value The originality of the work is in the developed method, which takes into account: the potential impact of each residue/sub product generated, the amount of each residue/sub product generated in a given time period, the dispersion that each residue/sub product can attain, and the evaluation of eventual allocation of each residue/sub product.

scholarly journals Development of Building Information Modeling Template for Environmental Impact Assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3092
Author(s):  
Sungwoo Lee ◽  
Sungho Tae ◽  
Hyungjae Jang ◽  
Chang U. Chae ◽  
Youngjin Bok
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Performance Assessment ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Building Information Modeling ◽  
Information Modeling ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Building Information ◽  
Environmental Performance Assessment ◽  
Assessment Results

Eco-friendly building designs that use building information modeling (BIM) have become popular, and a variety of eco-friendly building assessment technologies that take advantage of BIM are being developed. However, existing building environmental performance assessment technologies that use BIM are linked to external assessment tools, and there exist compatibility issues among programs; it requires a considerable amount of time to address these problems, owing to the lack of experts who can operate the programs. This study aims to develop eco-friendly templates for assessing the embodied environmental impact of buildings using BIM authoring tools as part of the development of BIM-based building life cycle assessment (LCA) technologies. Therefore, an embodied environmental impact unit database was developed, for major building materials during production and operating stages, to perform embodied environmental impact assessments. Moreover, a major structural element library that uses the database was developed and a function was created to produce building environmental performance assessment results tables, making it possible to review the eco-friendliness of buildings. A case study analysis was performed to review the feasibility of the environmental performance assessment technologies. The results showed a less than 5% effective error rate in the assessment results that were obtained using the technology developed in this study compared with the assessment results based on the actual calculation and operating stage energy consumption figures, which proves the reliability of the proposed approach.

Implementation of lean in IT SME company: an Italian case

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Torri ◽  
Kaustav Kundu ◽  
Stefano Frecassetti ◽  
Matteo Rossini
Keyword(s):  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Lean Implementation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
Lean Practices

Purpose In spite of huge advancement of Lean in the manufacturing sector, its advantage in the service sector is not fully investigated. The purpose of this paper is to cover this gap in particular for the information technology (IT) sector through the implementation of the Lean philosophy in a small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME), operating in the IT sector. Design/methodology/approach A case study is conducted and following the A3 model, Lean is deployed in the case company. Data were collected through on-site interviews, waste sources were identified and then countermeasures for their reduction were proposed and adopted. Findings This study reveals that the implementation of the Lean practices in an SME operating in the IT sector offers good operative and financial results, thanks to the higher productivity obtained through the reduction of non-value-added activities. Research limitations/implications This paper reports a single case study, not enough to generalize the results. Moreover, more Lean tools and practices should be tested in IT companies to assess their effectiveness. Practical implications This paper increments the knowledge base for the application of Lean and A3 model outside the manufacturing industry. This paper should assist practitioners and consultants who have the desire to understand a better way of Lean implementation in fast-growing IT industry and in SME. Originality/value Research on Lean implementation in an SME company and in IT sector is scarce. This study aims to assess the efficiency of the adoption of Lean practices following the A3 model. The results could be highly valuable for similar companies (dimension or sector), especially those that are facing transition situations in terms of size and at the same time want to improve their operations performance, efficiency and avoid waste.

The use of environmental performance indicators in “the greenest city in Europe”

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Alpenberg ◽  
Tomasz Wnuk-Pel ◽  
Philip Adamsson ◽  
Johannes Petersson
Keyword(s):  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
External Stakeholders ◽  
Municipal Managers ◽  
Environmental Performance Indicators

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine why and how municipal managers and CEOs for municipally owned companies use the environmental performance indicators. Design/methodology/approach A case study approach as a research design was used. In total, 18 semi-structured interviews were conducted among managers for administrative departments and municipal company CEOs. Findings This study found that the environmental performance indicators are used by department managers mainly for resource allocation, control and for teaching the employees. The CEOs of the municipal companies use the environmental indicators for communicating with external stakeholders and see the indicators primarily as marketing tools. The main reason why the environmental performance indicators are used in the municipality can be the strong demand from the local politicians to push the “green agenda,” and therefore the managers have to comply. Research limitations/implications As in any case study, generalizations from the research should be made with care, but since this is only one municipality, further research is needed to find additional evidence. Practical implications The findings of this study have a number of implications for future practice, and it is worth mentioning that clear guidelines for how the information could be made more useful for managers at the managerial level in Växjö municipality (VM) are requested for both the municipal managers and the CEOs. Social implications Overall, this study strengthens the idea that environmental performance indicators could be used to a larger extent for communicating with external stakeholders both for municipal departments and companies. Originality/value The research adds to the literature by examining different patterns of using environmental performance indicators in a unique setting – in VM, which is called “the greenest city in Europe” and is one of the “pioneers” in environmental work and extensively uses performance indicators.

Measuring environmental performance in hospitals: a framework and process

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 52-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreia Pasqualini Blass ◽  
Sergio E. Gouvea da Costa ◽  
Edson Pinheiro de Lima ◽  
Lilian Adriana Borges
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Assessment And Monitoring ◽  
Environmental Performance Assessment ◽  
Review Current ◽  
New Framework

Purpose This paper aims to propose a new framework to define relevant and meaningful indicators for monitoring and assessing environmental performance to improve health-care systems and operations. Design/methodology/approach A comprehensive literature review followed by field studies conducted with ten hospitals in the southern region of Brazil underlined the scarcity of consistent frameworks applied in practice to measure, monitor and improve environmental performance. A new framework was developed and proposed to address this issue. The proposed framework is operationalized through a “process approach” and evaluated in terms of feasibility (Can the process be followed?), usability (Is the approach easily followed?) and utility (Are the results useful for managers?). Findings The paper proposes a framework and a process to evaluate the environmental performance in hospitals. Practical implications The proposed framework represents meaningful guidance to managers for strategy formalization, goal setting and environmental performance assessment and monitoring. Originality/value The paper proposes a systematic framework for measuring environmental performance in hospitals drawn from the literature review, current legislation and best practices reported in literature.

Employee engagement creates a brighter economic future at Jupiter Hotels

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Cattermole ◽  
Jaime Johnson ◽  
Diane Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Employee Engagement ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Major Change ◽  
Business Success ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Results ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Hr Managers ◽  
Economic Future

Purpose – This paper seeks to address the role and impact of employee engagement within an organization that has undergone major change. It looks at the issues of how to monitor and increase levels of staff engagement over time to deliver business results. Design/methodology/approach – It draws on six-monthly employee engagement surveys and a case study to illustrate how HR can drive and monitor change through employee engagement. Findings – This paper follows a company through economic uncertainty to major organizational change and examines how the role of engagement and monitoring can drive business success. Research limitations/implications – The case study only looks at the issues over an 18 month time period. Originality/value – This paper illustrates how an HR department can build employee engagement to drive the business forward. The case study offers best practice material for HR managers.

scholarly journals Three eco-tool comparison with the example of the environmental performance of domestic solar flat plate hot water systems

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-181
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Life Cycle Analysis ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Huge Amount ◽  
Product Lca ◽  
Lca Practitioners ◽  
Standards And Guidelines

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is a procedure used as an analytical tool for the evaluation of the environmental impact caused by a material, a manufacturing process or product. For an end product, LCA requires both the identification and quantification of materials and energy used in all stages of the product’s life, together with their environmental impact. It requires therefore a huge amount of data about materials, components, manufacturing processes, energy consumption and the relevant environmental impacts. For this reason, a number of software and databases have been developed, in order to facilitate LCA users. These are the so-called Eco-Tools, used in an effort to minimize the environmental impact of a product from the materials and the energy used for production. In this paper, LCA is conducted for solar thermosyphonic systems, with the aid of three commercially available Eco-Tools, usually used by LCA practitioners, namely: Eco-It, GEMIS and SimaPro, and the results are compared. Although all three tools claim accordance with the international standards and guidelines, differences do exist. A typical solar thermosyphonic system (DSHWS) with a 4 m2 collector area and a capacity of 150 dm3 that covers the hot water needs of a three person family in Thessaloniki is used as case study. The results of the three tools are compared for each component of the solar system as well as for each material used and for the conventional energy substituted by the system.

Shop floor management system in the context of smart manufacturing: a case study

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 837-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diamantino Torres ◽  
Carina Pimentel ◽  
Susana Duarte
Keyword(s):  
Cyber Security ◽  
Performance Indicator ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Smart Manufacturing ◽  
Shop Floor ◽  
Security Technology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Smart Technologies ◽  
Manufacturing Technologies

Purpose The purpose of this study intends to make a characterization of a shop floor management (SFM) system in the context of smart manufacturing, through smart technologies and digital shop floor (DSF) features. Design/methodology/approach To attain the paper objective, a mixed method methodology was used. In the first stage, a theoretical background was carried out, to provide a comprehensive understanding on SFM system in a smart manufacturing perspective. Next, a case study within a survey was developed. The case study was introduced to characterize a SFM system, while the survey was made to understand the level of influence of smart manufacturing technologies and of DSF features on SFM. In total, 17 experts responded to the survey. Findings Data analytics is the smart manufacturing technology that influences more the SFM system and its components and the cyber security technology does not influence it at all. The problem solving (PS) is the SFM component more influenced by the smart manufacturing technologies. Also, the use of real-time digital visualization tools is considered the most influential DSF feature for the SFM components and the data security protocols is the least influential one. The four SFM components more influenced by the DSF features are key performance indicator tracking, PS, work standardization and continuous improvement. Research limitations/implications The study was applied in one multinational company from the automotive sector. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is one of the first to try to characterize the SFM system on smart manufacturing considering smart technologies and DSF features.

scholarly journals Commercial property tax in the UK: business rates and rating appeals

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 602-619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Michael Greenhalgh ◽  
Kevin Muldoon-Smith ◽  
Sophie Angus
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the introduction of the business rates retention scheme (BRRS) in England which transferred financial liability for backdated appeals to LAs. Under the original scheme, business rates revenue, mandatory relief and liability for successful appeals is spilt 50/50 between central government and local government which both share the rewards of growth and bear the risk of losses. Design/methodology/approach The research adopts a microanalysis approach into researching local government finance, conducting a case study of Leeds, to investigate the impact of appeals liability and reveal disparities in impact, through detailed examination of multiple perspectives in one of the largest cities in the UK. Findings The case study reveals that Leeds, despite having a buoyant commercial economy driven by retail and service sector growth, has been detrimentally impacted by BRRS as backdated appeals have outweighed uplift in business rates income. Fundamentally BRRS is not a “one size fits all” model – it results in winners and losers – which will be exacerbated if local authorities get to keep 100 per cent of their business rates from 2020. Research limitations/implications LAs’ income is more volatile as a consequence of both the rates retention and appeals liability aspects of BRRS and will become more so with the move to 100 per cent retention and liability. Practical implications Such volatility impairs the ability of local authorities to invest in growth at the same time as providing front line services over the medium term – precisely the opposite of what BRRS was intended to do. It also incentivises the construction of new floorspace, which generates risks overbuilding and exacerbating over-supply. Originality/value The research reveals the significant impact of appeals liability on LAs’ business rates revenues which will be compounded with the move to a fiscally neutral business rates system and 100 per cent business rates retention by 2020.

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