<a>Global
trends and factors, such as the increased level of globalization, climate
change, resource scarcity, and awareness of social and environmental
responsibilities, as well as fiercer competition and lower profit margins in
all industries, force organizations to act to retain, regain, or sustain their
competitive advantages for long-term survival. These trends and factors are
historically known to bring about innovations that drive the evolution of
industries. Sustainability is considered to be such an innovation to achieve
fiscally sound, environmentally conscious, and socially progressive
organizations and supply chains. Sustainable Development and Sustainability
notions are among trending topics of 21st century. Elevated sustainability
concerns of various stakeholders have been forcing members of all industries to
evolve into their more environmentally and socially responsible versions. This
study was initiated through a comprehensive literature review phase that
reviewed 477 articles published in five major databases from 1990 to 2018. The
purpose of this review was to assess the current state-of-the art on the
subject of lean-driven sustainability. Based on descriptive and contextual analysis,
synergies, divergences, and the extent of two-way permeability of lean and
sustainability concepts from the perspective of intra- and inter-organizational
operations were identified along with future research opportunities.
Fundamental strengths and weaknesses of both concepts, existing strong
synergies and untapped potential, along with their key contributors, the
potential-use cases of lean tools to derive sustainable solutions are
highlighted in this review. Next, based on the findings of systematic
literature review, an innovative, holistic, versatile and scalable tool was
developed to assess and benchmark sustainability performance of organizations
and supply chains. The proposed framework was established upon trivet structure
of Triple Bottom Line philosophy and fueled by Lean, Six-Sigma and Life Cycle Assessment
(LCA) methodologies for accurate and effective measurement of sustainability
performance. Completeness of the framework was ensured through development of
first-generation Key Performance Indicator (KPI) pool with 33 indicators, a
unique work environment assessment mechanism for safety and environmental
protection issues in terms of 11 risk categories and by construction of an
ownership structure for ease of framework deployment. Proposed framework is
expected to help with true sustainability performance improvement and
benchmarking objectives at a range of business levels from facility to sectoral
operations. Upon completion of the development phase, the Sustainability
Benchmarking Tool (SBT) Framework was validated at the facility level within
the context of value-added wood products manufacturing. Strengths and
weaknesses of the system were identified within the scope of Bronze Frontier
maturity level of the framework and tackled through a six-step analytical and
quantitative reasoning methodology. The secondary objective of the validation
phase was to document how value-added wood products industries can take
advantage of natural properties of wood to become frontiers of sustainability innovation.
In the end, True Sustainability performance of the target facility was improved
by 2.37 base points, while economic and environmental performance was increased
from being a system weakness to achieving an acceptable index score benchmark
of 8.41 and system strength level of 9.31, respectively. Social sustainability
score increased by 2.02 base points as a function of better gender bias ratio.
The financial performance of the system improved from a 33% loss to 46.23%
profit in the post-improvement state. Reductions in CO<sub>2</sub> emissions
(55.16%), energy consumption (50.31%), solid waste generation (72.03%),
non-value-added-time (89.30%) and cost performance (64.77%) were other
significant achievements of the study. In the end, SBT Framework was successfully
validated at the facility level and target facility evolved into its leaner,
cleaner and more responsible version of itself. Furthermore, manufacturing
industries of all sorts are key stakeholders, which rely on universities to
satisfy the demand for competent workforce. Society also expects universities
to educate youth and contribute to their self-development by achieving both,
scientific and intellectual knowledge saturation. To expand the contribution of
the study to the body of knowledge in the fields of Sustainability and Modern
Management techniques, an undergraduate level course curriculum that integrates
modern management techniques and sustainability concepts with wood products
industry dynamics was developed. Students’ pre- and post-education awareness of,
and familiarity with sustainability, potential consequences of ignored
sustainability issues, modern management techniques, global trends, innovation
waves, and industry evolution were compared through a seventeen-question
survey. Results showed that course content was successful at increasing
sustainability awareness at both overall and individual sustainability pillar
levels, At the end, 100% of students were able to develop complete
understanding of various modern management techniques and stated that they felt
confident to apply learnt skills to real life issues within their profession
upon graduation. Overall, this study empirically documented how synergies
between Lean, Sustainability, Six-Sigma and Life Cycle Assessment concepts
outweigh their divergences, demonstrated viability of SBT Framework and
presented a proven example of modern management techniques powered
transdisciplinary sustainability curriculum.</a>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/7982615 |
| Date | 10 June 2019 |
| Creators | Cagatay Tasdemir (6580142) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/DEVELOPMENT_AND_VALIDATION_OF_A_VERSATILE_AND_INNOVATIVE_TOOL_TO_ASSESS_AND_BENCHMARK_SUSTAINABILITY_PERFORMANCE_OF_ORGANIZATIONS_AND_SUPPLY_CHAINS/7982615 |
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