Project Brief: University of Kentucky

NIST Measurement Science and Engineering Research Grants

DEVELOPMENT OF METRICS, METROLOGY, AND A FRAMEWORK FOR PRODUCT-PROCESS ONTOLOGY FOR INTEROPERABILITY IN MODEL-BASED SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING

Establish a framework to measure, quantify, evaluate and communicate the sustainability of manufactured products and manufacturing processes.

RECIPIENT: University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

• Project duration: 3 Years
• Total NIST Funding: $1,499,935

Traditionally, economic and environmental analyses of products and manufacturing processes have been done for a single life cycle. Consumer demands and regulatory pressures for more sustainable products and more environmentally benign and economically and societally beneficial manufacturing processes are causing this traditional approach to change, and products and processes need to be evaluated for multiple life cycles, taking into consideration material reuse and remanufacture. However, there is not yet a common standard that can be used to measure and quantify the sustainability content in manufactured products and manufacturing processes to facilitate the communication of this useful information to others. To address this, the researchers at the University of Kentucky will establish a clarifying knowledge framework to enable communication and interoperability of metrics, domain knowledge, and concepts for more sustainable manufacturing. The work will also include the development of metrics and metrology for sustainable products and manufacturing processes, and the creation and validation of predictive models for complete life cycle analysis of sustainable products with case studies involving machining processes. This project will provide new sustainable manufacturing methodologies and advanced techniques to the manufacturing industrial sector.

Public contact (for project information):

Dan Adkins, 859-257-1754
dradki1 [at] email.uky.edu (dradki1[at]email[dot]uky[dot]edu)

rferrier [at] jhu.edu

Project Partners: Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America & Georgetown, both in KY; General Electric Automation, Cincinnati, OH; and Madisonville, KY; Lexmark International, Lexington, KY; Politechino de Bari, Bari, Italy; Portuguese, Catholic University, Lisbon, Portugal

NIST Program Office Contact:

Jason Boehm, 301-975-8678Jason.boehm [at] nist.gov (
Jason[dot]boehm[at]nist[dot]gov)