Collaborative Workshop: Research for Multidisciplinary Principles in Manufacturing, January 9-11, 2003, Birmingham, Alabama

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports a workshop to be held in conjunction with the 2003 NSF Design, Service and Manufacturing Grantees and Research Conference in Birmingham, Alabama, January 9 - 11, 2003. It is expected that 60 invited participants will attend this 2 day workshop, including international participants. The objective of this workshop is to establish an integrated approach that captures the fundamentals of environmentally benign manufacturing (EBM), directed beyond finding particular solutions to problems, to the creation of a research agenda to achieve behavior that incorporates these fully integrated concepts. This workshop will take an educational and multidisciplinary approach to understanding attributes, and awareness of the use of, four topical areas as the basis of EBM. These areas are 1) product performance, / technology; 2) supply chain dynamics; 3) decision-making (with organizational dynamics) and 4) environment. These four threads are to be represented by individuals with expertise in each fields, who will then work on common product topics to create the framework for this integrated approach. This workshop is a major step in implementing the findings of the Environmentally Benign Manufacturing World Technologies Evaluation Center (WTEC) study published in 2001.