Abstract
Environmental impact reduction has been a growing concern of the automotive industry. One of the main challenges is to implement Cleaner Production as a tool to reduce environmental impacts and provide financial profits. The purpose of this article was to evaluate the environmental impact and economic gains by implementing Cleaner Production, using an unexplored approach, in a company of the automotive sector. The research approach used was a case study, carried out by observation and semi-structured surveys. The production process chosen was updated, so technologies were changed to reduce biotic and abiotic disposal. For the analysis of environmental impacts, the ‘Material Input Per Unit of Service’ tool (MIPS) was used, in which data was used to calculate: annual net profit; return on investment (%) and return on investment for a period. The results showed that Cleaner Production implementation focusing on changing technology in the production process caused a 75% reduction in environmental impact, and a 62.7% decrease in production costs. Although of this study considers only one case to test the procedure applicability, it can be easily repeated in other more complex systems, by merely making the necessary adjustments due to the complexity of the processes involved.
Highlights
The use of natural resources gives cause for concern for public agencies as well as the general public
The literature review of this work was started by a bibliometric research and content analysis with the purpose of identifying published articles in scientific journals; first, which would cite about cleaner production in the automotive industry and, secondly, about the use of Material Input Per Unit of Service’ tool (MIPS) to establish environmental impact calculation
The automotive sector Cleaner Production (CP) articles content analysis focused on identifying the environmental impacts reduction results and the economic aspects, while in the articles that adopt MIPS, to figure out whether these compared the economic gains to the results of the environmental impact minimization
Summary
The use of natural resources gives cause for concern for public agencies as well as the general public. 449-459, Oct.-Dec., 2017 emissions with environmental, occupational health, and economical benefits (Organização das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento Industrial & Programa das Nações Unidas para o Meio Ambiente [Unido/Unep], 1995). CP is the application of a technical, economical, and environmental strategy integrated into processes and products, aiming at increasing efficiency in the use of raw materials, water, and energy by not generating, minimizing, or recycling waste and Maringá, v. This in turn leads to ecoefficiency of the productive process. Regardless of the normative part of this concept, the pragmatic part of it refers to the ratio between environmental impact and economic cost or value (Huppes & Ishikawa, 2005)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
