Sustainable Fractal Manufacturing: a new approach to sustainability in machining processes

Abstract

Over the last decades manufacturing industry alongside installations and activities have caused damage to the planet, society and ecosystem. This impact is characterized by spending energy and material resources, environmental degradation, destruction of ecosystems, loss on biodiversity, effects on public health, welfare and life quality. Actions [1] that have been carried out to mitigate this situation have increased the complexity in manufacturing processes. It is necessary to establish new models that reduce this complexity in design and management stage, and allow the development of task’s manufacturing to promote sustainability in the processes involved, maintaining the technical, economic and quality feasibility. The aim of this work is to develop a manufacture model based on the Fractal Paradigm to manage and structure the manufacturing processes, including the sustainability as minimal complexity (or required complexity) in manufacturing systems and incorporating the new paradigms Green Manufacturing and Cleaner Production, taking into account the principles of Cradle to Cradle (C2C).