Sustainable manufacturing: a case study of the forklift painting process

Life cycle assessment (LCA) and design for environment (DFE) methods were applied to assess opportunities for reducing the environmental impacts of forklift manufacturing unit processes and to redesign those unit processes to increase overall sustainability. The unit processes of forklift manufacture generating the most environmental emissions were identified by applying LCA methodology. The results show that eco-toxicity and human toxicity were the most significant impacts of the forklift manufacturing process overall. Also, within the manufacturing unit processes, cutting, welding and painting had the highest impact values. In order to minimise environmental impacts, a new paint was created with increased solid content over the existing solvent paint used in the painting process. In addition, by applying DFE methodology and the high solid paint, overcoat and drying steps were eliminated from the forklift painting process. As a result, the environmental index of a follow-up LCA showed that environmental impacts could be reduced by 20%, while volatile organic compound (VOC) and paint usage could be decreased by 30% and 20%, respectively.