Decision Support for a Sustainable Production in Job Shop Manufacturing Systems

Despite the growing importance that is being given to the concepts of sustainability in many areas, not only in industry but also in the economy and public opinion in general, until now, most research has focused, practically, on the analysis of the concepts, but has not addressed, in a comprehensive way, its impact in decision making probably due to the complex relations of interdependence between its different aspects. In this context, MAPSAM (Methodology for the Assessment of Sustainability in Manufacturing Processes and Systems) was created to help the decision-making process, allowing a conscious and transparent assessment by administrators and managers at the different levels of the structure of companies and organisations. This article explains its development and application in a "job shop" type manufacturing system with an approach that allows the integration of economic, environmental and social criteria. MAPSAM is based on the use of various techniques and tools to quantify the importance of each aspect of sustainability and it has been applied in other production environments, being implemented in different systems, analysing their ease of use and evaluating their behaviour. The objective is to show how it helps to make operational, tactical and strategic decisions in the management on these type of manufacturing companies and, specifically, in this contribution we want to highlight its versatility and applicability, by validating it in a certain type of layout. With this new application, MAPSAM increases its possibilities as an innovative instrument that allows companies to make conscious and sustainable decisions in order to be more efficient, fair, supportive and respectful of the environment. Keywords: Manufacturing System, Simulation, Decision Support, Sustainable Production, Decision-Making