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ResearchProposal_30-05-2021.doc9
Environmental Issues and the Manufacturing Industry
Triveni Sumallika Addanki
Research
University Canada West
Abera Demeke
16-05-2021
Abstract
Environmental issue has continued to become a growing challenge in the manufacturing industry whereas businesses become more competitive, the more the situation gets worse with time. For this reason, the paper will focus on highlighting some of the key factors relating to environmental degradation and the manufacturing industry, i.e., putting in mind various factors influencing the decision-making process and actions taken. With this in mind, the general problem statement to be evaluated in this paper is; how to identify how the manufacturing industry can influence the entire supply chain process to adopt efficient processes while also producing sustainable products? The methodology design will mainly highlight two major areas which include social concern and economic concern surrounding the manufacturing operations.
Keywords; Environmental Pollution, Manufacturing Industry, Air Pollution, Water Pollution, Soil Pollution, Technology, Economic, Laws and Regulations, Policies, Social concerns, Costs, Sustainability, and systems.
Table of Contents
2 Abstract
6 Research Question and Objectives
7 Sampling, Data Collection, and Deliverables
8 Ethical Issues, Scope, and Limitation
13 Discussion
13 Analysis of Operational Challenges
13 Technical and Economic Dimensions
14 Social and Corporate Dimensions
15 Manufacturers Role on the Product Life-Cycle
17 Improvement of Laws and Regulations
17 Conclusion
19 References
Environmental Issues and the Manufacturing Industry
Introduction
Apart from economic development being treated as the main priority around the world, there has been a lot of concerns regarding the ability to have sustainable businesses and the environment. This issue has continued to become a growing challenge in the manufacturing industry whereas businesses become more competitive, the more we experience environmental degradation (Qureshi et al., 2015). Although the problem of environmental pollution seems to be a current issue, it is important to note that it has been a disease growing for centuries. For instance, dating back to the beginning of industrialization, the issue of water pollution had already started. However, since the industrial revolution began, environmental degradation has continued to occur at an accelerated rate (Yuan et al., 2012).
Before proceeding further on this issue, the relationship between environmental pollution and the manufacturing industry has been contributed by the growth of human intelligence or in other words the continuous process of innovation. As time goes, humans have identified means of escaping the limitation of nature but this has however led to the increased demand for very limited resources (Liu & Xie, 2020). This aspect has consequently led to the ongoing back and forth argument between environmental concern and the economy making even the most advanced nations without a proper answer on the problem. It would also mean that this issue has continued to severely affect developing nations which are left with almost no response but to give in to the economical demands (Mirghafoori et al., 2017).
On the other hand, it is essential to note that manufacturing plays a very critical role in enabling the development of a sustainable business environment. The reason behind choosing manufacturing as the key topic is because the industry holds a pivotal position across the entire economic structure. For example, the level of influence that manufacturers have in the supply chain is considerably huge (Lieder & Rashid, 2016). Despite that they are not responsible for how the used raw materials are obtained or processed, manufacturers can directly or indirectly dictate sustainable terms for all the participants. With this in mind, the paper will focus on highlighting key factors relating to environmental degradation and the manufacturing industry, i.e., putting in mind various factors influencing the decision-making process and actions taken.
Additionally, the paper will mainly be focusing on the chemical manufacturing industry as our main reference and the Petrochemicals industry as the particular subject in discussion. Petrochemicals is one of the biggest manufacturing industries in Canada where it has an annual income of more than 7 billion dollars. Over the years, the industry has been growing due to the increase of demand for products which resulted in the creation of more opportunities and consequently the damaging of the environment. For instance, the location of the majority of these companies is associated with numerous health issues, contamination of soil, and excess release of effluents such as naphthylenic acids, sulphides, surface-active substances, metal derivatives, polycyclic, and aromatic hydrocarbons.
Research Question and Objectives
The general problem statement to be evaluated in this paper is; how to identify how the manufacturing industry can influence the entire supply chain process to adopt efficient processes while also producing sustainable products?
Some of the research objectives will be based on the following questions;
· How far has the industry been able to apply sustainability performance?
· What are some of the available useful tools that can be used to remedy the problem of environmental concern?
· What are some of the challenges being experienced by the manufacturing industry in regards to environmental issues?
· What other remedies and policies can be used to resolve this problem for once?
Methodology
Research Design
The methodology design will mainly highlight two major areas which include social concern and economic concern surrounding the manufacturing operations. On one hand, social concerns are very efficient measuring tools on matters such as environmentalism. This aspect can be discussed by using two main approaches which include regulatory forces and public concerns. Further evaluation of these features will focus on analyzing corporate implementation standing and how the industry has been able to integrate environmental concerns into its strategic planning. On the other hand, economic concern plays a vital role when it comes to the balance of both operational cost and social concerns (Sangwan & Choudhary, 2018). This approach will focus on evaluating some of the basic elements that must be provided in the industry commitment to the environmental strategy.
Sampling, Data Collection, and Deliverables
The random sampling technique was used as the main method since it allowed the inclusion of different variables, where our research population constituted of social activists and industry representatives. Some of the variables that will be looked at will comprise socio-economic classification and the target market, i.e., in terms of product impact and strategic planning. The selected target market will mainly feature at least 4 environmental activists and 3 manufacturing members. This selection has been chosen to keep in mind that all sides will have a chance to air the views. The main method used for data collection was the use of oral interviews and obtaining information on secondary materials discussing the same issue.
Ethical Issues, Scope, and Limitation
The fact that this discussion has continued to drag along for years sometimes can be very devastating when one tries to get to the actual truth of the matter. At one end, the environment is indeed being crumbled by the manufacturing activities, however, there is very little to done to solve this issue unless the world economy goes to a halt (Sangwan & Choudhary, 2018). Therefore, the biggest ethical issue would be to guarantee the response from each side as the truth of the matter. This problem also limits this research paper on various aspects, i.e., in terms of thorough discussion on topics such as “the relationship between technology and the environment.” Meanwhile, the scope of the paper will be to highlight some of the main challenges in the manufacturing industry influencing the continuous menace of environmental destruction.
Budget Analysis
The analysis of this paper will incur costs in various processes but the key area would be the collection of data. At this point, we will have to use print media which means we must set aside at least 100 dollars for buying reading materials. The other main issue will be the little first-hand interview which would also need a minimum of 100 dollars for various elements like travel costs, where the estimated number of trips are three of approximately 4 miles. Overall, the minimum cost of the budget will be 300 dollars this is including miscellaneous issues such as print and stationary elements.
Literature Review
The manufacturing industry is considered as one of the biggest contributors to environmental degradation where it produces more than two-thirds of the world’s pollution. Due to its nature, manufacturing pollution can be considered a global challenge but developing nations such as China and India have been the most widely affected (Lieder & Rashid, 2016). With the continuous growth of demand for more goods across the world, there has been also the need for mechanizing mean production thus allowing the existence of a greater production base. Generally, the effect of manufacturing pollution is widely spread to almost all environmental problems, i.e., air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, and overall global warming (Woo et al., 2014).
Air Pollution
Air pollution is one of the biggest environmental hazards contributed by the manufacturing industry which occurs when harmful gases and by-products are released into the atmosphere. Although many would argue that we should consider pollutants from natural sources, researchers have shown that there is a considerably big difference when compared with industrial emissions (Bai & Satir, 2020). The biggest contributor to air pollution comes from fuel combustion like the burning of coal. On the other hand, air pollution can be described as either an indoor or outdoor problem. Indoor air pollution was noted as an issue during the 1980s, while outdoor pollution is described to be existence for a longer period (Lieder & Rashid, 2016).
Additionally, indoor pollution is mainly instigated by the emission of pollutants such as biological contaminants, formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds, radon, and combustion of by-products such as nitrogen oxide, hydrocarbons, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and particulates. Meanwhile, outdoor pollution is contributed by pollutants such as carbon dioxide, lead, total suspended particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and toxic pollutants (Qureshi et al., 2015). Overall, air pollution is significantly dangerous since it can easily transform into another form with more potential harm to the biosphere, e.g., acidic rain or water.
Water Pollution
Manufacturing water pollution occurs through the release of wastewater with a high concentration of toxic pollutants (i.e., volatile organic compounds and heavy metals), conventional pollutants (i.e., grease and oil), and non-conventional pollutants such as ammonia. The issue of water pollution has been widely discussed with industries required to treat their wastewater before releasing it back to the environment. This approach has failed to be implemented especially by small manufacturers and in most developing countries where policies are not quite adhered to (Jaeger & Upadhyay, 2020). The long exposure of this problem has led to the destruction of marine animals and the increase of the growing chronic illnesses caused by increase toxic content such as lead.
Soil Pollution
Like in the other pollutions, soil pollution also occurs as a result of damping solid and liquid waste products into the earth’s surface. Such waste products can include plastic materials, bottles, sawdust, press mud, sludge, ashes, radioactive waste, ferrous oxide, ferrous chloride, magnesium sulphate, calcium carbonate, and other unwanted industrial wastes (Lieder & Rashid, 2016). All these elements can change the soil composition when mixed with water thus even contributing to the pollution of underground water. In most cases, solid wastes are associated with problems such as alteration of soil composition (i.e., steel and coal industrial waste), disturbed air composition (i.e., fly ash from cement industries and thermal power plants), foul smell (i.e., paper and sugar industry), and the development of radioactive fields (Woo et al., 2014).
Global Warming
The issue of global warming has continued to raise a lot of heated debate between policymakers and industry leaders. This discussion has caused increased attention by noting that it has built up for centuries before reaching this escalating mark where little can be done to salvage the situation. However, the manufacturing industry remains the biggest contributor to the greenhouse effect by continuously pumping millions of harmful gases into the atmosphere (Yuan et al., 2012). This action has caused the earth’s average temperature to continue rising from 180 under Zero (i.e., without the greenhouse effect) to 150 above Zero (i.e., with the current greenhouse effect) (Jaeger & Upadhyay, 2020). This means the natural balance has been lost with more being trapped into the atmosphere due to the emitted gasses. Other effects of global warming can include hurricanes, extreme weather patterns, tsunamis, floods, extinction of wild animals such as polar bears, and melting glaciers.
Data Analysis
Following the response given by the participants, it noted that both parties agreed on the fact that the Petrochemicals company causes an impact on the environment. This finding was easily obtained by asking a simple question needing a ‘Yes or No’ answer. According to most of the research articles applied in this paper, sample responses showed that 87% of participants also answered ‘Yes’ to the same question while 10% answered ‘No’ and 3% were undecided on the matter (Testa & D’Amato, 2017). It is important to note that the three percent decision could be biased since all of them had one or two personal interests so they decided to remain neutral on the matter.
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
YesNoUndecided
Yes
No
Undecided
Fig 1: Chart Response Awareness
Through the follow-up interview, it was determined that Petrochemicals are noted by the participants as the main contributor to environmental degradation. Following this paper's research question, researchers mentioned the manufacturing sector as one of the strongest and capable parts of every supply chain in influencing positive activities in the market (Liu & Xie, 2020). Apart from the known environmental pollutions, other effects that were recurrent among sources included preventable accidents, improper waste disposal, and poor sanitation. Improper waste disposal and poor sanitation accounted for 16% and 18% of the total environmental pollution. In the case of accidents, the percentage varied from one area to another putting in mind the strength of policy implementation, wherein countries such as India accidents were at a much higher rate than any other country (Testa & D’Amato, 2017).
On the other hand, apart from having hand in the destruction of the environment, the manufacturing industry plays a very significant role in the socio-economic of the world. The participants of various studies also agreed together that if the manufacturing sector is to come to a halt, the loss incurred will be devastating to the world economy (Sangwan & Choudhary, 2018). Some of the benefits that come along with the industry include trade promotion, infrastructural development, revenue creation, provision of social amenities, and most importantly employment opportunities. This analysis can show some of the reasons why this issue gets harder and harder when it is tried to be solved.
Discussion
Analysis of Operational Challenges
Two major factors come into play when analyzing the main causes of manufacturing pollution. On one hand, there is a lot of constraints when it comes to technical and economic factors which play a very significant role in maintaining a balance between consumer demand and competitive strategy (Fuzi et al., 2019). On the other hand, there are issues of social corporate dimensions regarding environmental challenges and enforcement of policies. It is important to also start by noting that these two aspects must be merged in one way or another to achieve a considerable way of solving this issue of environmental degradation.
Technical and Economic Dimensions
In the past few decades, the growth of technology has also risen the demand for environmental responsibility. This means that although there is a large production scale, it must be guided with the needed changes in different types of manufacturing activities (Liu & Xie, 2020). Therefore, it goes without a say that various companies face different challenges arising from raw or process materials and emerging of new products. In other words, the technical challenge can be a very complex topic for industry managers, where it determines a lot the aspect of competitive advantage (Bai & Satir, 2020). With this in mind, it can be seen that engineers have a huge task of not only determining economic results but also putting into consideration social and cultural contexts.
Following the above discussion, we must note that economic factors have a significant conflict with environmental issues due to one issue which is the cost of production. For example, unlike in other social debate topics like the issue of gender equality, there is a big ‘tag war’ when it comes to the discussion of implementing aggressive emission reduction targets (Jaeger & Upadhyay, 2020). Many argue that if these actions are seen through then Gross National Production will be estimated to reduce by almost 3.5% and it would be even harder to meet the growing demand. Due to this assumption, most of the manufacturing giants such as the US, China, and India have opted to ignore sacrifice the environment for economic sustainability (Lin & Chen, 2020).
With various companies lagging in moving with the change process, outdated technology has continued to generate a significant amount of waste. This problem can be noted by the need to eliminate some types of processes as well as the entire product markets for products such as dioxin, DDT, and CFCs (Fuzi et al., 2019). To merge this issue as described earlier, managers and policymakers must come into an agreement about environmental liability thus to caution the increasing recklessness caused by the economic aspect. Therefore, there is a significant amount of data needed to assess issues relating to technical and economic challenges regarding key elements surrounding environmental pollution (Bey et al., 2013).
Social and Corporate Dimensions
The issue of social and corporate aspects is not a new problem since it has been in existence for quite some time now. As stated earlier, unlike in other social reforms such as gender equality, labor relations, civil rights, and others, environmental reforms have had a huge pullback from firms and even governments at some point. This aggressive contest has left social advocates with very little to work with and a lot of challenges on their plate (Testa & D’Amato, 2017). For this reason, it can be noted that still there is a big gap between corporates and society in general. For example, although companies are aware of various consequences relating to the cost of environmental pollution, they still go ahead with their daily activities knowing that there will be no repercussions, social, or environmental costs (Jaeger & Upadhyay, 2020).
The above statement brings us to the issue of corporate ethics which is another huge concern when it comes to environmental pollution. Expect in the recent years where we have seen companies in full support of corporate social responsibility, the past only shows a lack of environmental consideration (Woo et al., 2014). This problem can be best observed during the production decision-making process, where the manufacture should show a responsible gesture that should be matched in the entire supply chain process. These actions must also incorporate the fundamentals of our society and cultural background which make man the caregiver to nature. In other words, economic factors should never override corporate moral compass, especially if it concerns environmental ethics (Bey et al., 2013). By following this path, the issue of policy implementation would be easily resolved and consequently improve the sustainability of production.
Recommendation
Manufacturers Role on the Product Life-Cycle
After a thorough analysis of this discussion, manufacturers have a great role to enact on matters of environmental responsibility. For instance, the two main factors which must be considered in manufacturing activities, include activity trade-offs and materials which should align with regulatory imperatives and market values. However, it crucial to understand that all these factors should be determined by one common element which is the relationship of these factors with environmental problems (Esfahbodi et al., 2017). Following this assumption, Petrochemical’s great opportunity and challenge can only be witnessed through attaining control of the product cycle. Through this system, the manufacturer can influence and monitor the product life-cycle since one’s position allows the ability to “choose the raw materials, design and processes, in-service impacts, ease of disassembly and reuse, and strategy for recycling and disposal” (Mirghafoori et al., 2017).
The Role of Management
Through the ongoing changes in the world of technology and increase in demand, managements have been able to adapt to these changes while also anticipating challenges. Therefore, it is for this reason why I think out of the many initiatives mentioned in various studies, the most appropriate for this case is the application of integrated product development (IPD) (Shahbazi et al., 2017). This system is designed to minimize the time needed to get a product into the market by including all the relevant external factors as early as possible in the initial stages. In the IPD structure, one important component that relates to our topic is the "design-for-X" (DFX) regime which allows improvement in testability, maintainability, or manufacturability (Liu & Xie, 2020).
Within the DFX regime, the design for environmental (DFE) is a module that allows the manufacturer to incorporate health and safety factors that might incur in a particular technology. By applying this system, managers will have improved output efficiency while at the same time aligning with most of the environmental concerns. For instance, a manufacturer's option to reduce material used per product can significantly improve the use of available resources while also minimizing the energy used and pollution emitted per product since there is less material used (Shahbazi et al., 2017).
Improvement of Laws and Regulations
During the analysis of participants’ response, it was noted that laws and regulations are one of the biggest loopholes which industries have continued use in support of their unlawful acts. As a result of these, most of the environmental laws were treated as more of future initiatives but not of the current setting. For this reason, various countries and organizations have opted to adopt a “Command-and-Control” method in implementing regulations and legislations in various sectors. This approach has been described as a success especially in the US through the application of measures like "end-of-pipe" emissions limits and other rigid standards (Yuan et al., 2012). However, the use of the command-and-control approach has indirectly affected the manufacturing industry in terms of its economic efficiency. Therefore, this system can be considered effective if policymakers can focus on aspects such as incorporating product life-cycle instead of only focusing on industrial activities (Esfahbodi et al., 2017).
Conclusion
As stated earlier, environmental pollution has continued to be a growing concern. For instance, only in the US, the annual cost needed to control this menace has risen by about 600% in the past four decades leveling to almost 2% of the country’s GDP (Bey et al., 2013). However, there have been various steps taken by both the policymakers and companies in trying to improve the issue of environmental concern. Moreover, these measures have been effective as needed since most of the initiatives have failed to incorporate business thinking in coming up with more effective policies. Some of the key issues that have been identified in this paper include technical concerns, economic concerns, and social concerns.
The above issues are characterized as very broad subjects and unlike in this discussion, there is a great need for policymakers and managers to understand how to expand their knowledge in sustainable development. To achieve this goal, more research on the manufacturing sector has to be done in regards to some of the key elements that continue to emerge, i.e., “the relationship between technology and environmental sustainability” (Lin & Chen, 2020). Furthermore, the discussion on emerging issues has to highlight three main ingredients of sustainable development which include social equity, environmental quality, and economic prosperity. The main reasoning behind this approach will be to identify possible means of saving cost while also attaining higher environmental protection standards (Yuan et al., 2012). This means that Petrochemical can turn around its issues despite various challenges that may arise but it is certainly possible.
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