Ecological design of a production plant

Abstract

The concepts and solutions of sustainability, resource efficiency, and waste-free production are increasingly influencing our thinking, policy guidelines, and corporate strategies. However, some strategies extend beyond conventional sustainable approaches by embracing the fundamental operating principles of ecosystems. In this context, resilience—a natural risk management strategy—is incorporated into the design of a manufacturing company, considering all types of material flows, including solid, liquid, gaseous, and thermal. This ecological approach to resilience is applied to both the operational and financial aspects of the company, via concurrent analysis. Results indicate that merely achieving zero waste emissions does not ensure sufficient resilience, a core requirement of ecosystems and a fundamental principle of the blue economy. Furthermore, it is found that a production system with a flexible product portfolio can adapt into a more ecologically resilient system, despite technological constraints. The resilience level of the production system in ecological and financial terms is similar. Several types of sensitivity analyses are conducted to deepen the insights into the processes.