Environmentally benign manufacturing – A workshop report

In this paper, the organization, results, and lessons learned from a workshop on Environmentally Benign Manufacturing (EBM) are presented. A multidisciplinary group representing industry, academia, and government discussed issues related to design, supply chain issues, process technologies, decision-making and education in a one and a half day workshop. Plenary speakers from the US, Europe and Japan gave overviews of the higher level linkages and complexities in the area of environmentally benign manufacturing. Some of the overarching findings included the need for better assessment methods and tools, better knowledge about the true cost of resources, continuous effort in developing new process technologies. Increased active understanding of not only multidisciplinary, but also international research efforts was deemed as a fundamental necessity in the area of EBM.