The quest towards sustainable development, both nationally and globally, puts the construction industry in the foreground as the main consumer of natural resources. The industry has profound economic, social and environmental impacts. Sustainable construction is one of the most important challenges faced by the construction industry today. In the UK, sustainability is being driven and enforced by the government through stringent fiscal policies and regulations, voluntary initiatives combined with naming and shaming strategies. Stakeholders are becoming more aware of the global challenges and are using their power to exert pressure on companies. Increasingly, construction clients are demanding that their business partners submit: their corporate sustainability policies with tender packages to demonstrate their performance in dealing with opportunities and risks stemming from economic, environmental and social aspect of sustainability. However, the lack of understanding of the concept and its practical application has been a recurrent problem. The conceptual confusion; its vagueness and ambiguity, the complexity of the myriad of challenges and fluidity of the sustainability concept, compounded with the myopic attitude of the industry, lack of clear-cut and practical framework are causing frustration in the construction industry. Consequently, a number of sustainability management frameworks have been proposed. There are probably more than one hundred frameworks for sustainable business strategy. However, the majority of these are either complicated to implement or lack sound theoretical base, effective change management and completeness. These, therefore, do not make the situation any easier. Many are still baffled as to what they should do and how they should go about affecting change. Corporate sustainability in the construction industry is a challenge to many companies. The industry is still under-performing in each of the key themes of sustainable construction and this has lead to a 'blame culture' where each sector of the industry allocates responsibility for its current failings to others (CIRIA C563, 2001). Such a situation poses a need for a comprehensive, practical and easy to use tool that would aid the implementation and management of sustainability at the core of business process. The tool will complement the existing frameworks, which breaks down the strategic and management issues into manageable components. This will enable companies to focus on individual areas and identify actions needed to facilitate change. The problem is that such a tool is virtually non-existent. The main focal point of this research is the development of a tool to facilitate the implementation, management and integration of sustainability issues at the strategic level and promote wider uptake of the concept in the construction industry. This requires a thorough understanding of the concepts of sustainable development, sustainable construction and related issues as well as drivers, benefits, barriers and enablers for achieving corporate sustainability. It also demands an examination of existing management frameworks and collation of case studies from the early adopters to establish critical factors for strategic and management issues involved in achieving corporate sustainability. Through, diverse research epistemologies (quantitative, qualitative and triangulation methods), the research established four main critical factors and thirty-six sub-critical factors for achieving corporate sustainability. These factors underpinned the development of a web-based prototype software (ConPass). This thesis presents the development and evaluation ConPass Model and the prototype software.

In machining, tool life is the chief determinant of cost, tool changing frequency, machining efficiency, and machining precision. Application of a proper cutting edge with optimized geometry and suitable edge properties is an effective way to improve tool performance and machining quality. The majority of the reported work is limited to the effect of edge geometry on tool life. In this thesis, cutting edges were prepared using three different methods which were evaluated in terms of tool edge geometry produced, tool surface quality and topographies, edge hardness and residual stresses. Furthermore, the influence of cutting edge preparation techniques on the tool performance of uncoated tungsten carbide cutting inserts with different average cutting edge rounding (S¯), different form factor (K), as well as the different edge preparation methods used underwent experimental investigation through the orthogonal turning of AISI 4140 alloy steel. Results show that the performance of the prepared edge depends on the combined effect of micro-geometry and edge properties. For symmetric edges (K=1), the preferable range for S¯ was found to be 20 µm to 30 µm. Drag finishing was determined to be the best edge preparation process which is able to produce cutting edges with the best performance. The experimental investigations provided guidelines and evidence for future study of the cutting tool life and wear behavior of prepared cutting inserts and PVD-coated carbide inserts. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

On-machine inspection (OMI) via on-machine probing (OMP) is a technology that has the potential to provide a step change in the manufacturing of high precision products. Bringing product inspection closer to the machining process is very attractive proposition for many manufacturers who demand ever better quality, process control and efficiency from their manufacturing systems. However, there is a shortness of understanding, experience, and knowledge with regards to efficiently implementing OMI on industrially-based multi-axis machine tools. Coupled with the risks associated to this disruptive technology, these are major obstacles preventing OMI from being confidently adopted in many high precision manufacturing environments. The research pursued in this thesis investigates the concept of enabling high precision machine tools as measurement devices and focuses upon the question of: “How can traceable on-machine inspection be enabled and sustained in an industrial environment?” As highlighted by the literature and state-of-the-art review, much research and development focuses on the technology surrounding particular aspects of machine tool metrology and measurement whether this is theory, hardware, software, or simulation. Little research has been performed in terms of confirming the viability of industrial OMI and the systematic and holistic application of existing and new technology to enable optimal intervention. This EngD research has contributed towards the use of industrial machine tools as traceable measurement systems. Through the test cases performed, the novel concepts proposed, and solutions tested, a series of fundamental questions have been addressed. Thus, providing new knowledge and use to future researchers, engineers, consultants and manufacturing professionals.