Ashish Nimbarte, assistant professor of industrial and management systems engineering at West Virginia University, earned a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to implement source reduction through on-site assessments of industrial facilities. Small- and medium-sized manufacturing facilities in Martinsburg, Parkersburg, Charleston, Huntington and Wheeling, W.Va., under the auspices of the West Virginia Sustainable Communities, will participate in this project.
Nimbarte expects his project to significantly assist the participating facilities by identifying potential sources of human, material, water and energy waste. The goal is to make manufacturing industries in the state sustainable while maintaining productivity and competitiveness.
“E3 initiatives—economy, energy and environment—will be implemented to assist manufacturing firms to improve their financial profitability, environmental integrity and social equity,” Nimbarte said.
The successful completion of this project is expected to reduce the use of electricity, natural gas and water; improve the safety and ergonomics of workplaces; and decreases air pollutants, and hazardous and non-hazardous wastes.
“It is hard to obtain an EPA grant and I commend Dr. Nimbarte for obtaining this important grant,” said Bhaskaran Gopalakrishnan, professor of industrial and management systems engineering and director of the Industrial Assessment Center. “This project will use a systems approach to integrate lean, clean and green aspects that will help manufacturing companies overcome multiple sustainability challenges.”
Gopalakrishnan and Edward Crowe, representing Industries of the Future-West Virginia, will serve as co-principal investigators on the project. Other partners on the project include the West Virginia Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the West Virginia Manufacturing Association and the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety.
