raw materials

Examples of raw materials in the following topics:

• The bottom line

  • Future-proofing products involves working to insulate products and services from risk and uncertainty by eliminating waste in all phases of a product's life-cycle to: (1) avoid rises in raw material costs, (2) reduce the chances of bad publicity, and (3) prepare for coming changes in environmental legislation.

• Clean production defined

  • Food service setups, service provider procedures, delivery routines, office systems, even agriculture are all good examples of ‘production' in that commodities (e.g. raw materials) flow from one area (or machine or department) to another whereupon a set of procedures, labour skills or other processes are performed so as to end up with a finished product (or service).
  • With office systems, the ‘raw material' is usually information that passes from one person (or department or computer) to another before the converted end result is made ready for distribution and sale.
  • With agriculture, the ‘product' usually stays in one place while all sorts of materials and processes are brought to it.

• Reuse, remanufacturing and recycling: an overview

  • The further away from the original product the reclamation process lies, the more the investment in raw materials and other inputs is lost and the greater the costs are to the manufacturer (who has to purchase replacements).
  • Similarly, the wider the base of each closed-loop practice, the more time, effort and expense is involved in collecting and reprocessing reclaimed material:

• It doesn't add up, it multiples

  • On the contrary, sustainable, closed-loop production practices reduce costs, conserve raw materials, help eliminate toxins and hazardous materials (and their expense), and reduce negative impacts on the environment.

• Remanufacturing (to as-good-as-new condition)

  • The term ‘sound working condition' is key because in some areas of the world, reassembled products made from used parts are considered new and come with the same guarantee and warranty as products made from virgin raw materials.

• Total Quality Management

  • Workers in a cell environment tend to have a greater sense of ownership and pride in their work because they have a "big picture" view of the product as it is converted from raw material to a finished good.

• Introduction to Resource Extension Part 2

  • According to Stahel, in an ideal cradle-to-cradle (or closedloop/circular) system, waste would not exist because waste would be seen as an asset in transition and be used as a raw material.
  • Much to the company's surprise, making carpet backing from reprocessed carpet waste not only proved to be much cheaper than that made from virgin raw materials, the end product also turned out to be more stable, softer and easier to clean.
  • This pivotal discovery reduced the company's raw material costs, resulted in a new and inspiring company motto (‘Mining buildings rather than resources') and allowed Collins & Aikman to enjoy double-digit growth in both revenues and profits when the entire carpet industry was growing at about 4% a year.
  • With old carpets proving to be a superior raw material source, it wasn't long before another multinational carpet maker, Interface, got in on the act.
  • This activity consumes a lot of raw materials and produces a lot of waste.

• Introduction to Sustainable Production Locations

  • In layman's terms, industrial ecology (also known in a more limited manner as ‘industrial symbiosis') involves arranging businesses in a way so that wastewater, emissions, wastes and other outputs from one or more of the participating businesses can be used as raw materials by one or more of the others.
  • The advantages include a reduction in raw material costs, low waste disposal expenses and reduced energy requirements.

• Recycling

  • Although the word ‘recycling' is a generic term that often includes the reuse or remanufacture of a product or material, for the most part it refers to a process in which used products or packaging are collected, cleaned, shredded, melted down or otherwise reduced to recover their base materials.
  • Virtually anything from building materials to metals to chemicals to paper to plastic to fabrics or food and cloth – and, in some cases, unused medicine – can be recycled.
  • Recycling is more expensive than reuse, repair and remanufacturing because more labour and energy is required to reduce materials back to their original form and then once again reconvert them into a specified intent.
  • That being said, it still makes financial sense to recycle because recycling recaptures the value of raw materials as well as the energy and manpower that went into converting them into products.
  • Making paper from recycled materials uses 70% less energy and produces 73% less air pollution compared with making paper from virgin raw materials.

• Materials Handling

  • Materials handling is the movement, storage, control, and protection of materials during their manufacturing, distribution, consumption, and disposal.
  • Material Handling is the movement, storage, control and protection of materials, goods, and products throughout the process of manufacturing, distribution, consumption, and disposal.
  • The material handling industry manufactures and distributes the equipment and services required to implement material handling systems.
  • Material handling also can consist of sorting and picking, as well as automatic guided vehicles.
  • The material handling system (MHS) is a fundamental part of a flexible manufacturing system, since it interconnects the different processes supplying and taking out raw material, workpieces, sub-products, parts, and final products.