A method for green process planning in electric discharge machining

In today's industry, many manufacturing processes have been systematically and scientifically analysed with the aim of achieving maximum efficiency co mbined with economic manufacturing conditions The usual practice of manufac turers was to focus on a single factor in decision-making, such as producti on and cost. Recently, green manufacturing has been playing an important ro le in reducing the waste produced from industrial activities. This is due t o a growing awareness of the need for a balanced approach to industry objec tives using environmentally friendly process planning. This paper presents a methodology for the multi-objective analysis of the electric discharge ma chining (EDM) processes. A utility function was employed to determine the u tility levels of various dielectrics by integrating the factors involving t ime, energy, quality and weighted mass. Using the utility function, the pro cess or material with the highest rating represents the condition with the best match of all the key factors. It will therefore give a more balanced r esult, leading to savings in resources, which helps in protecting the envir onment.