Sustainabilty in Manufacturing – Energy Consumption of Cutting Processes

Abstract

Rising prices on the international commodity markets as well as the increasing demand on environmental friendly products are generating new needs on product development and process planning. This includes also the development of an energetic product-life-cycle, which does not only comprise the use of a product, but also considers the production and refinement of raw materials at its beginning and possible recycling or end of life scenarios. Therefore within this paper an approach is presented for the evaluation of energy consumption for manufacturing. The results are discussed and evaluated for drilling operations. Final conclusions how cutting processes can be optimised are drawn at the end.