Cleaner Production Associated with Financial and Environmental Benefits: A Case Study on Automotive Industry

The Cleaner Production implementation has been expanding significantly in Brazil and there is a strong tendency that companies start to care about environmental issues, such as: input reduction, production process less aggressive to the environment, among other factors inherent to manufacturing process. This paper presents a case study conducted in a company that operates in the field of automotive industry, more specifically in the manufacture of gears for transmissions and diesel engines. The main aims of this research are analyze a machining line focusing on Cleaner Production indicators and evaluate the environmental and economic benefits using the method Material Intensity Factor. The results showed that the company had both environmental benefits and financial gains due to the reduction of raw materials by means of replaced or eliminated material from the production process. The relevant aspect of this study is the possibility of financial gain associated with environmental gains and benefits by means of incremental changes in the production system.