In this dissertation, we analyze the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the Steam Sterilizer, popularly known as Autoclave. The LCA will help Getinge Sterilization AB to identify the stages of the life cycle of Autoclave model GSS-P 91413, which contributes more to the environmental footprint. We use the ISO 14040 LCA framework to conduct the Cradle to Grave boundary study of the Autoclave. The results have shown the use phase to be a dominant phase with almost 84% of carbon footprint. For Getinge to produce sustainable products and reach its long-term goal of becoming carbon neutral, they need to reduce its environmental footprint in every phase of the product life cycle. Thus, this report suggests the best way that the company can impact the changes to the users even though they have very little control over it. The results were obtained using the Sustainable Minds (SM 2013) software, which is ISO certified, henceforth the results are trustworthy. This Thesis has 8 parts: Introduction, Method, Theory, Results, Conclusion, Critical Review, References, and Appendices.

This thesis was conducted to analyze and investigate improvement methods for the testing process of steam sterilizers at Getinge AB.Getinge is a leading MedTech multinational company based in Sweden. Steam sterilizer is one of their prominent products. A series of testing must be done before handing over the product to the customer, which mainly requires water and steam as consumable resources. The intention of this project is to find improvement methods or optimization techniques for the testing process and reduce the consumption of resources which would significantly impact the production lead time and cost. Upon the careful examination of the testing process it has been noticed that a significant amount of pure water with heat content has been wasted during the testing process, which could be recirculated/ reused, and the heat could be regenerated for useful purposes. The proposed optimization suggestions through this project are a thermally stratified tank which could handle cold and hot water as the testing process needs the supply of both. Majority of the faults during testing are identified in software implementation and a few in mechanical. A dummy testing is recommended to identify the faults in the implementation of the software without the need of consumable resources. A few methods to tackle mechanical faults are discussed further in this report. When implementing these optimization suggestions, it would drastically improve the testing process by reducing the consumption of resources like water, steam, natural gas, time, and labor.

Sterilcentralen som finns på nya Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset är inte modern. Den är dessutom inte tillfredsställande ur ett arbetsmiljömässigt perspektiv.  Det finns redan ett antal beprövade automationsmetoder som är implementerade på olika sjukhus, men inte på NKS. Det finns ett antal olika processer som ett material måste genomgå för att det ska bli sterilt. De flesta sköts manuellt. Kan automation förverkligas för att minska mängden manuellt arbete samt förbättra arbetsmiljön för avdelningens personal? Ett frågeformulär användes för att ta reda på hur personalen som arbetar på avdelningen uppfattar arbetet som utförs. Formuläret var också till för att ta reda på hur de tror att arbetet och arbetsmiljön kan förbättras genom automation. Fältstudier samt besök på andra sjukhus gjordes för att undersöka hur arbetet på sterilcentralen går till i praktiken. / The central sterile department that is located at the new Karolinska Hospital is not up to date. It is not satisfying from a work environmental perspective. There are however a number of proven methods of automation that are implemented at different hospitals but not at NKS. There are a number of different processes that have to be executed on an instrument to be able to classify it as sterile. Most of the work is done manually. Could automation be implemented to reduce the number of work done manually and to improve the work environment for the employees of the department? A questionnaire was used to figure out how the staff that works at the department perceives the work that is being done. The questionnaire was also used to figure out the staff's point of view on how the work processes and work environment can be improved due to automation. Field studies and visiting other hospitals were executed to study how the work at the central sterile department is done in reality.