Improving green manufacturing education in China universities and colleges

Abstract

Green manufacturing is the irresistible development trend of manufacturing industries throughout the world, and green manufacturing education plays an extremely significant part in the process of going green for sustainable manufacturing. In this paper, several typical definitions and meaningful benefits of green manufacturing are firstly introduced, then the situations of green manufacturing education in USA are analyzed for reference to improve the green manufacturing education in Chinese universities and colleges. The indispensable contents of green manufacturing for higher education of Chinese students are summarily presented, involving the related laws and regulations, and some key green manufacturing technologies and methodology such as digital technology, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), new materials, green energy, near net shape technology, cleaner production, short production processes, automation technology and 6R methodology. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg..