Polymer Process Engineering 01 PDF

Abstract

Over the last decade environmental requirements and needs have grown exponentially. These demands typically by far outweigh the existing corporate resources when it comes to designing according to the latest requirements and needs.

At Ford a system has been put in place that addresses all the new business drivers by developing andif necessary - updating a corporate strategy based on existing and forthcoming regulatory trends, a sound analysis of the ecological and economical impacts, and a roll-out to, for example, the product development community.

We are convinced that we have to be an advocate for the generations to come. Depleted resources will sacrifice their well being and quality of life, or in the words of Bill Ford, chairman of the board of Ford Motor Company: "Ford Motor Company once provided the world with mobility by making it affordable. In the 21st century, we want to continue to provide the world with mobility by making it sustainable." In this respect Recycling is a key strategy, a real challenge and a great opportunity when it comes to a complex technical structure like an automobile.

To make sure that our decisions today at best have a minimal negative impact on the environment, a set of tools have been developed and deployed that help in the decision making process: Life Cycle Costing (LCC), and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). These tools serve multiple purposes. They are already applied during the phase when a new regulation is in the process of being adopted to highlight critical issues to the decision makers. An even more important phase is during the product development of a new vehicle that we will have to recycle or recover to an ever-increasing percentage roughly 13years after the first unit was built and sold to a customer.

The scope of this paper is to illustrate what is currently being done when it comes to the general environmental direction taken at Ford, environmental futuring initiatives, and material selection based on LCA and LCe criteria. It will also show examples of potential progress when engineers can focus on improving the recyclability and are not distracted from this task by trying to compromise between sometimes conflicting parameters like recyclability -light weight - cost, and others.

One important conclusion of working towards a full integration of environmental aspects in today's designs is the need to generate a new way of thinking. Old fashioned approaches will not help solve tomorrows problems. A culture of innovation, combined with permanent training and the ability to question and challenge yesterday's solutions needs to emerge. Universities and other training facilities can help to provide industry with people trained in these areas.

Edited by: P.D. Coates