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Enhancing Sustainable Production Through Continuous Improvement: Evidence from Nigeria’s Manufacturing Sector
1-20Views:0The manufacturing industry in Nigeria has been the so-called cornerstone of economic development since the sector has continuously played a major role in providing jobs and industrial capital. However, there remain issues that impede its progress, including inefficient resource use, unstable regulatory systems, and the need to comply with international market requirements. Specifically, it examined the effect of employee engagement, process efficiency, and resource allocation on Nigeria’s manufacturing sector. A survey research design was adopted, with a total population of 117 employees across five manufacturing firms. A total of 91 participants were administered a structured questionnaire. Data collected was analyzed using PLS-SEM. Findings revealed that employee engagement has the strongest effect on sustainable production (β = 0.412, t = 6.250, p < 0.000), followed by resource allocation (β = 0.237, t = 3.610, p < 0.000), and process efficiency (β = 0.174, t = 2.877, p = 0.004). It concluded that continuous improvement is significantly vital for sustainable production in the five sugar manufacturing firms studied in Nigeria. It is therefore recommended that management of these selected firms focus on developing unique resource allocation strategies, employee engagement, and process efficiency to ensure sustained workforce improvement, thereby achieving sustainable production outcomes.
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Sustainability, sustainable supply chain management
322-328Views:1086With the rapid development of the world economy, the growing scarcity of natural resources and the degradation caused by pollution, environmental protection has become a major concern for countries and regions of the world. Sustainability is a common subject in many parts of the world and the various research areas among policy makers, journalists, scientists, universities and social debate. It is generally accepted, that companies also play an important role in addressing the challenges of sustainable development. In this role, making a key challenge to balance often conflicting pressures caused by sustainable development, that is, the level of corporate economic performance against environmental deterioration and social disruption. Effective integration of sustainability principles into companies requires action beyond the borders of organizations. The issue of sustainability is becoming more and more prominent in corporate governance. One of the most important area of supply chain management is for companies to gain a competitive edge in the market. This has a significant impact on the natural environment, and there is a growing need to integrate environmental thinking in supply chain management and processes, which is why companies are increasingly focusing on sustainable development, taking on more CSR initiatives and achieving a greener supply chain. Sustainable and green supply chain management practices have been developed over the past decades, trying to integrate environmental considerations into organizations by reducing unwanted negative consequences for the environment of production and consumption processes. In this article, I have examined the issues of sustainability and sustainable supply chain management, mainly based on descriptive secondary literature.
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The green methanol - playing a role in sustainable energy management
249-258Views:266Global energy demand is constantly increasing, so the energy sources we use, and the efficiency of energy use are of paramount importance for the future of humanity. Methanol can play a key role in the sustainable use of natural resources, in the efficient and smooth transition from a fossil oil-based energy system as well as in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Long-term thinking will result in an increase in the use of renewable energy sources, which will favour the spread of green methanol technology and thus the use of a carbon-neutral fuel. The raw materials for the production of green methanol may include municipal solid waste, agricultural waste, renewable hydrogen and carbon dioxide and the methanol has many uses, both as fuel and chemical feedstock. It also provides an opportunity to chemically store excess renewable energy from intermittent sources, thereby reducing dependence on fossil fuels. The price of electricity used for electrolysis is the main determinant of the economical production of green methanol, so the reduction of the cost of solar and wind energy greatly contributes to the competitiveness of carbon-based production.
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Municipal Geothermal Systems: Evaluation of Three Hungarian Cases
81-93Views:352Geothermal energy holds great potential for a sustainable future, as it is a clean and weather-independent form of energy. In addition to energy production, it can also serve the population of a region through direct use. In this paper, three municipal geothermal systems (Szarvas, Nagyszénás, Békéscsaba) in the same Hungarian region which have been recently installed or expanded are presented and analysed. Here, the direct usage of geothermal energy for heating purposes is a very important issue. The three systems show several differences and to some extent face different challenges in the various phases of the projects. Particular attention has been paid to engineering solutions to the problems that arise. The challenges, such as technical difficulties during installation, maintenance difficulties, or problems arising during operation are introduced. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of similar geothermal systems were summarized, based on the relevant literature. These points were evaluated by their appearance and characteristics in the examined systems. This study aims to provide insights, based on recently gained experiences, into geothermal projects, thus providing feedback and practical information for researchers and practitioners.
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Operational Feasibility Assessment of Geothermal Heat Harnessing Systems
46-53Views:315Renewable energy sources are now essential to establish sustainable development. This paper examines one kind of source the geothermal energy. For geothermal energy when combined with a heat pump COP can be used for evaluation. For solely geothermal sources different approach is needed thus in the paper, a new geothermal heat production coefficient is used to examine the operational feasibility. For the assessment, many hypothetical buildings were created to model their heat demands. Two types of calculation methods are used for heat demand calculation. Based on the results, the maximum depth of a geothermal borehole and economically critical qualitative coefficient was concluded.
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Opportunities in circular agriculture
17-23Views:386Water is the source of life. For the long-term preservation of water resources it is very important to develop sewerage and sewage treatment. Sewage sludge is not primarily a waste that needs to be disposed of but also a secondary raw material or a renewable energy source. Municipal sewage sludge, and sewage sludge composts, contain relatively large quantities of organic matter, so agricultural utilization can be a major potential of its use. The transition to sustainable agriculture is becoming more urgent and increasingly important as it can provide a solution that looks to the future. Sustainable agriculture should work according to natural law, so it should be self-sustaining, that means, cycles, where in to one process the waste created can be used as raw material in the other process. The beneficial effects of sludge on soil include increasing soil organic matter content, increasing soil fertility, nutritional capacity, microbiological activity, and complex fertilizing effects. However, when is applicated, there is always a problem with the occurrence and accumulation of toxic elements and drug residues. The traditional model of economic activity is the linear model. This model ignores the high economic social, and environmental costs of exploiting, transforming and removing of the resources therefore it is not sustainable in the long term. The circular economy offers an alternative model in which the products materials and resources are maintaned as long as possible and the amount of waste is significantly reduced or lost. It is also possible adapt the overtuned ecological, biological balance of agricultural production systems, with a closed loop circular model. According to this model, the development of tillage technologies and the restoration of organic materials and nutrient supply are possible.
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The Relationship Between Renewable Energy Consumption, Net Energy Import, Greenhouse Gas Emission and Human Cap
58-71Views:293The measures to improve energy efficiency and increase of renewable energy production and consumption should be encouraged in the interest of sustainable development. Many factors can influence the use of renewable energy such as the level of economic development of an economy, nationals’ and the main economic actors’ environmental awareness, energy import dependency, ratio of the urban population, and government subsidization intensity among the others. The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the share of renewable energy in the total energy consumption and net energy import as a percentage of energy use less production, greenhouse gas emission per capita and human capital using by OECD countries data from 1990 to 2014. The results indicate that there is a negative relationship between net energy import and renewable energy consumption, and also negative relationship can be shown between the amount of greenhouse gas emission per capita and renewable energy consumption. However, we identified a positive relationship between human capital and renewable energy consumption for energy importer countries above a certain level of human capital.
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Role of Biomass in Urban Energy Management
62-76Views:267When making decisions on the use of energy, both on building and on city level, biomass plays certainly a role in looking for sustainable solutions. This study starts with highlighting some key points regarding urban energy management, including world urbanization trends, heat island effect of big cities and energy hierarchy in energy management. With these in mind, it is worth considering, how the shading effect of surrounding biomass can mitigate the heating needs as a wind barrier in the winter or decrease the cooling load as shadowing element in the summer, both for buildings and whole cities. These can be further enhanced by biomass integrated in the buildings’ envelope: green roofs and green walls can have significant energy conservation effects, according the characteristics of their different types. Lastly, urban disposal of biomass can lead to renewable energy generation, both in case of biogas production and waste incineration. These shading, covering and fuel possibilities all underline the importance of biomass in urban energy management.
