Page 177 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

156 Cha pte r Ei g h t

• Collaborate with regional governments and other stakehold-
ers to implement ecosystem protection and renewal projects.
Example: LaFarge, one of the world’s largest cement companies, has
partnered with the nonprofit WWF since 2000 to assure ecosystem
sustainability and biodiversity in its worldwide quarry rehabilitation
program. In Kenya, Lafarge’s local subsidiary Bamburi Cement, has
been developing expertise in landscape regeneration at Baobab Farm,
a nature and wildlife park created by René Haller and Sabine Baer on
a former limestone quarry site in Mombassa.

D.3 Design for Economic Capital
Economic capital, in accounting terms, refers to the productive assets
of a company; and asset management typically focuses on assuring
the productivity of company-owned facilities, process equipment,
and working capital. Improving the utilization of company-owned
assets is a fundamental approach toward increasing shareholder
value because it reduces the capital investment required to gener-
ate the company’s cash flow (see Chapter 4). Many companies have
sought to improve their asset utilization by identifying underutilized
assets, such as idle equipment, and recovering their value.

Process Reliability, Safety, and Security
The design and engineering of industrial operations typically involves
trade-offs between cost, throughput, and reliability. Methods for in -
creasing reliability, including redundancy, maintenance scheduling,
and equipment monitoring, are beyond the scope of this book. How-
ever, one of the most important drivers of plant availability is process
safety. A minor safety incident, even if it causes little or no damage or
human injury, can disrupt operations and cause significant delays.
The historic mission of process safety management has been to
prevent industrial accidents or releases of hazardous materials that
may have adverse impacts upon human health, property, or the envi-
ronment. Examples of potential acute hazards in an industrial facility
include:

• Exothermic chemical reactions with potential for fire or
explosion
• Handling and storage of flammable or corrosive gases or
liquids
• Presence of multiple moving vehicles (e.g., at loading docks)
• Presence of high temperatures, pressures, or electric voltages
• Presence of dangerous process equipment, such as rotating
machinery
• Requirements for entry into confined spaces (e.g., for
cleaning tanks)