Envisioning Sustainable Manufacturing Industries of Japan

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 634-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuji Mizuno ◽  
◽  
Yusuke Kishita ◽  
Shinichi Fukushige ◽  
Yasushi Umeda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Group ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Industrial Structure ◽  
Sustainable Manufacturing ◽  
Specific Region ◽  
Manufacturing Industries ◽  
Input Output ◽  
The Future ◽  
Transition Paths ◽  
Future Visions

In order to adapt to or overcome the difficulties Japan’s manufacturing industry is facing today, drawing normative future visions of sustainable manufacturing is required. The future is undeterminable, so the future visions cannot be fixed. Therefore, in order to draw visions of sustainable manufacturing of Japan, our research group has developed its Sustainable Manufacturing Scenario using the backcasting method. Here, a scenario is a set of stories detailing several future visions and transition paths toward them. Backcasting is a method of developing a scenario, one in which ideal future visions are developed, and then transition paths from the visions back to the present are drawn. To quantify and evaluate the future visions, we propose a model called SISA (Scenario-based Industrial Structure Analysis), which is based on Input-Output (I-O) tables. An I-O table quantitatively represents final consumption and transactions among industrial branches of a specific region in a specific period. In the SISA model, the I-O table representing future industry is given from the present I-O table, and several parameters reflect the hypotheses set in the scenario. Our research group has developed five different future visions of Japanese manufacturing industries. We set three future targets: GDP, employment, and CO2. The visions are quantified on the SISA model and investigated as to whether they achieve the future targets or not. Based on this analysis, we have concluded that drastic technological change is required to achieve the CO2target, and cooperation with service manufacturing is important if the employment target is to be met.

Proposal of Design Support Method of Sustainability Scenarios in Backcasting Manner

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuji Mizuno ◽  
Yusuke Kishita ◽  
Haruna Wada ◽  
Kazuhiro Kobayashi ◽  
Shinichi Fukushige ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Manufacturing ◽  
Manufacturing Industries ◽  
Logic Tree ◽  
Design Support ◽  
Sustainable Future ◽  
Computational Support ◽  
The Future ◽  
Transition Paths ◽  
Future Visions

Describing sustainability scenarios is a hopeful approach for envisioning sustainable future visions of industries. However, describing sustainability scenarios is a difficult task and there is no computational support method. This article proposes a design support method of sustainability scenarios in a backcasting manner, which means thinking backward from targeted futures. For the design support method, we propose the following two methods; (i) a method for supporting backward thinking and constructing future visions using a logic tree and (ii) a method for drawing transition paths based on the logic tree. As a case study, we designed “Sustainable manufacturing scenario,” which envisions sustainable future visions of manufacturing industries. Through the case study, we identified the effectiveness of the proposed method. The proposed method supports designing the scenario in clarifying the future visions, drawing the transition paths, and describing them in scenario structurally.

Sustainability assessment in the manufacturing industry: a review of recent studies

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 3162-3179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamraiz Ahmad ◽  
Kuan Yew Wong
Keyword(s):  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Social Indicators ◽  
Sustainable Manufacturing ◽  
Manufacturing Industries ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Status ◽  
Different Levels

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze the recent sustainability assessment studies in the manufacturing industry from the triple-bottom-line (TBL) perspective. This paper aims to depict the status quo of practical sustainability assessment, summarize the different levels and boundaries of evaluation, and highlight the difficulties and further improvements needed to make the assessment more effective in the manufacturing industry. Design/methodology/approach Four keywords, namely, sustainability assessment, sustainable manufacturing, TBL and green production, were used to explore and find the relevant articles. First, this paper systematically reviewed the studies and analyzed the different levels and boundaries of sustainability assessment. Following this, the reviewed studies were critically discussed along with their merits and shortcomings. Findings The review showed that most of the sustainability assessment studies were conducted on product, company and process levels in the manufacturing industry. Nevertheless, there is still a need to focus more on plant and process level assessments to achieve the TBL objectives. Environmental assessment is comparatively matured in manufacturing industries. However, from the economic and social viewpoints, only cost analysis and workers’ safety, respectively, were considered in most of the studies. The economic and social indicators need to be more inclusive and should be validated and standardized for manufacturing industries. Originality/value Unlike previous sustainability assessment reviews in manufacturing industries which were mostly based on life cycle assessment, this paper has included environmental, social and economic aspects in one comprehensive review and focused on recent studies published from 2010 to 2017. This paper has explored the recent sustainability assessment trends and provided insights into the development of sustainability assessment in the manufacturing sector.

Manufacturing Migration and Trade Embodied Carbon Transfer: Empirical Evidence From China and Thailand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
jian wu ◽  
Chunying Cui ◽  
Xiaolong Mei ◽  
Qingsong Xu ◽  
Pu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Industrial Structure ◽  
Manufacturing Industries ◽  
Investment Environment ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Embodied Carbon ◽  
Carbon Transfer ◽  
Asean Countries

Abstract At present, China's carbon emissions rank first in the world, which not only brings huge challenges to the sustainable development of China's economy, but also brings more pressure from public opinion in the international community. In 2020, ASEAN has become China's largest trading partner, and Thailand, due to its unique industrial structure and investment environment, will surely become one of the main ASEAN countries to undertake the transfer of China's manufacturing industry. Over the years, the shift of carbon emissions by the continuous transfer of a large number of basic manufacturing industries from China to Thailand promoted the release of China's carbon emission pressure. In this article, on the basis of the data of import and export commodities between China and Thailand from 2012 to 2017, the input-output model is carried out to analyze the energy consumption of China's various industries, and three periods, namely 2012, 2015, and 2017, are used to be key periods to calculate the embodied carbon of China's manufacturing migration and Sino-Thailand trade. The empirical results show that the transfer of China's manufacturing to Thailand from 2012 to 2017 has continued to rise. The transfer of Chinese manufacturing to Thailand is positively correlated with the carbon emissions of trade between the two countries, which has promoted the relief of China's pressure on energy conservation and emission reduction. Therefore, government departments should formulate differentiated and stable domestic manufacturing policies; spend on the development of advanced manufacturing industries with low energy consumption and high technology density; encourage the relocation of industries with low technology density and high carbon emissions to effectively reduce environmental pressure in China.

Export Performance and Increased Services Content in Manufacturing

2012 ◽  
Vol 220 ◽  
pp. R36-R52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Wolfmayr
Keyword(s):  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Export Performance ◽  
Domestic Service ◽  
Manufacturing Industries ◽  
Export Market ◽  
Input Output ◽  
International Service ◽  
Market Shares ◽  
Manufactured Goods

Against the background of the increasing services content of many manufactured goods, the paper attempts to assess the role of (domestically and internationally) purchased service inputs for the relative export performance of countries in a particular manufacturing industry. It estimates an empirical model of export market shares for EU15 countries and twelve disaggregated manufacturing industries over the period 1995 to 2007. Whereas most traditional explanations are based on the influence of relative costs and technology-related variables, this paper emphasises the importance of services as a determinant of both product quality and the sectors’ productivity. The service linkage variables are based on national input–output tables. The analysis finds a positive and highly significant impact of services on export market shares of manufactured goods. Distinguishing between domestically-sourced service inputs and imports results in a robust and highly significant impact of international service linkages, while the analysis finds no impact of domestic service linkages.

A Study on the Impact of Family-friendly Certification on Financial Performance of SMEs: Focusing on the Manufacturing Industry

2019 ◽  
Vol 118 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-12
Author(s):  
Ok-Hee Park ◽  
Kwan-sik Na ◽  
Seok-Kee Lee
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Family Friendly ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Impact

Background/Objectives: The purpose of the paper is to examine how family-friendly certificates introduced to pursue the compatibility of work and family life affect the financial performance of small and medium-sized manufacturers, and to provide useful information to companies considering the introduction of this system in the future.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Critical Systems Thinking ◽  
Critical Systems ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Future Visions

The book proposes that the Cold War period saw a key debate about the future as singular or plural. Forms of Cold War science depicted the future as a closed sphere defined by delimited probabilities, but were challenged by alternative notions of the future as a potentially open realm with limits set only by human creativity. The Cold War was a struggle for temporality between the two different future visions of the two blocs, each armed with its set of predictive technologies, but these were rivaled, from the 1960s on, by future visions emerging from decolonization and the emergence of a set of alternative world futures. Futures research has reflected and enacted this debate. In so doing, it offers a window to the post-war history of the social sciences and of contemporary political ideologies of liberalism and neoliberalism, Marxism and revisionist Marxism, critical-systems thinking, ecologism, and postcolonialism.

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