Environmental Value Analysis: Evaluating manufacturing product and process design trade-offs

This dissertation presents a design characterization tool that is effective for efficiently reducing the environmental and health impacts of product manufacturing. In the life-cycle of a product, from the extraction of building materials to the disposal of the consumed item, many of the life-cycle impacts occur during the product's manufacture with material and energy intensive processes. A variety of decisions are made throughout a product's life-cycle that influence the associated fate and impacts of the product; however, most of the influential decisions are made early during the design and development of the product when material selection and manufacturing methods are chosen. Therefore, developing environmental design characterization tools for use in the product and process development stages is of considerable benefit.; This dissertation first provides a background on product development and hazard characterization tools. Then, it develops the Environmental Value (EnV) Analysis, an innovative framework to integrate environmental and health considerations into existing design procedures. The EnV analysis is both a systems methodology and a multi-dimensional characterization technique. The contributions of the EnV analysis fall into six main categories: (1) incorporating environmental and health parameters with traditional cost and performance factors; (2) focusing on systems-level characterization; (3) disaggregating manufacturing process and facility data to a "value" with a common per unit metric; (4) utilizing a modular methodology for integration into existing business and design functions; (5) applying design and manufacturing language in a multi-disciplinary analysis; (6) grounding the analysis in process models, so cost, impacts, and performance metrics can be associated back to process flows and parameters; The EnV analysis is developed into an applicable design characterization and software tool in a time of growing environmental and human health concerns. The methodology and characterization techniques are demonstrated through a series of case studies. Semiconductor manufacturing applications were selected to demonstrate the numerous advantages that unfold from a more detailed and balanced understanding of the trade-offs involved in a complex manufacturing system.