Development of an Assessment Method for Evaluation of Sustainable Factories

Behrouz Pirouz, Natale Arcuri, Behzad Pirouz, Stefania Anna Palermo, Michele Turco and Mario Maiolo
Additional contact information
Behrouz Pirouz: Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy
Natale Arcuri: Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy
Behzad Pirouz: Department of Computer Engineering, Modelling, Electronics and Systems Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy
Stefania Anna Palermo: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy
Michele Turco: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy
Mario Maiolo: Department of Environment Engineering and the Territory and Chemical Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: The role of the industrial sector in total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and resource consumption is well-known, and many industrial activities may have a negative environmental impact. The solution to decreasing the negative effects cannot be effective without the consideration of sustainable development. There are several methods for sustainability evaluation, such as tools based on products, processes, or plants besides supply chain or life cycle analysis, and there are different rating systems suggesting 80, 140, or more indicators for assessment. The critical point is the limits such as required techniques and budget in using all indicators for all factories in the beginning. Moreover, the weight of each indicator might change based on the selected alternative that it is not a fixed value and could change in a new case study. In this regard, to determine the impact and weight of different indicators in sustainable factories, a multi-layer Triangular Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (TFAHP) approach was developed, and the application of the method was described and verified. The defined layers are six; for each layer, the pairwise comparison matrix was developed, and the total aggregated score concerning the sustainability goal for each alternative was calculated that shows the Relative Importance Coefficient (RIC). The method is formulated in a way that allows adding the new indicators in all layers as the verification shows, and thus, there are no limits for using any green rating systems. Therefore, the presented approach by TFAHP would provide an additional tool toward the sustainable development of factories.

Keywords: sustainable development; green factories; AHP; triangular fuzzy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/5/1841/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/5/1841/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:5:p:1841-:d:326562

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().