ORL-32806 Sustainability Analysis

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English.

Continuation courses:

BCT-32306 Advanced Biorefinery;
FPE-30806 Sustainable Food and Bioprocessing;
ORL-30306 Decision Science 2;
ORL-30806 Operations Research and Logistics.

Contents:

Sustainability is a growing concern in the design and operation of many production and supply chain activities. Next to the traditional economic concerns, companies therefore also increasingly consider the environmental and social impacts of their activities. To support these initiatives, and to improve the related decision-making processes, a solid foundation of quantitative methods for sustainability analysis is required.
In this course, you learn how to systematically and quantitatively evaluate sustainability, and to optimise and redesign sustainable supply chains. Definitions and concepts of sustainability are explained and discussed. You will learn how to quantify the sustainability of products and production chains, both for existing supply chains as well as for novel, re-designed, or circular supply chains. Such sustainability assessment involves the selection of key sustainability performance indicators, the collection of data (partially from databases), the quantification of sustainability performance indicators, the benchmarking of supply chains using methods like data envelopment analysis, and the comparison and discussion of the results leading to re-design strategies. In this final comparison and discussion special attention will be given to multi-objective evaluation using (quantitative) operations management methods and stakeholder inclusion.
The course is intended for all third year BSc and MSc students from Wageningen with an interest in sustainability and an affinity with (decision-sciences-based) quantitative analysis. The quantitative approach to sustainability analysis is a key characteristic of the course and students with a background in operations research/decision science and/or process engineering are more likely to successfully complete this course.
Commonly, students are enrolled in the minors Biobased Technology (WUBBT) and Biobased Transition (WUBTR), or in the Master Programmes Management Economics and Consumer Sciences (track ORL), Biosystems Engineering, or Biotechnology.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- explain definitions related to sustainability;
- collect data from databases for sustainability analysis;
- identify and quantify key sustainability performance indicators and interpret the results from sustainability assessments;
- perform a multi-objective sustainability evaluation;
- analyse and optimize re-design strategies using quantitative operations management methods;
- report a sustainability analysis;

Activities:

Lectures, tutorials, problem based learning (case study), discussion, selfstudy.

Examination:

- participation in case study and group discussion are mandatory;
- presentation and report on case study results (40%);
- written exam, closed book (60%);
The minimum score for the exam is 5.0 and the minimum score for the report 6.0. The case study report is valid for 2 years. See Course Guide for additional rules and regulations.

Literature:

Book: A hitch hiker's guide to LCA (Baumann and Tillman), reader/handouts. Additional material will be announced before the start of the course.