Description : |
This paper presents a case study of a truck manufacturing company
in Brazil that implemented a series of initiatives towards cleaner
production in the manufacturing process as part of the UNESCO
Program for sustainable development. The current literature mainly
emphasizes the cost reduction of the production processes and the
economic gain resulting from cleaner production implementation,
and the research focuses on the identification of environmental
benefits. Few studies address the actual environmental impact
reduction resulting from cleaner production initiatives. This study
aimed to propose a procedure based on the use of the Material
Input per Service Unit to gauge the environmental impact decrease
obtained as a result of the adoption of cleaner production processes
by a truck manufacturing company. The results from this study showed
that there were social and economic benefits from the actions taken.
There was a reduction of employees' exposure to hazardous materials
and financial benefits of US$ 3.5 million for the company. There was
a corresponding environmental impact reduction of 964 thousand tons
of raw material that was not extracted from nature. |