Phase 2: Define environmental indicators

Environmental indicators refer to the choice of variables to be used to assess the envi- ronmental impact of the investigated shipyard system (said variable being hereafter also referred to as the ”environmental indicator”). The shipyards greenness is determined by the environmental impact of both energy use and pollution.

The gross inputs and outputs of a shipyards processes are visualized in Figure C.3, which is adapted from on the automotive industry [1]. The focus on the environmental impact of energy use and pollution results in specific inputs and outputs relevant for measuring the environmental performance. Selecting the elements appropriate to the operational phase of a shipyard, involves the use of energy, solid waste and liquid waste (see Figure C.3), and pollution through gas, noise, vibration, etc. are not included as the relative contribution to the total environmental impact is relatively low. This results in three environmental indicators, namely energy use, material waste and liquid waste. The inputs and outputs shown in the figure are useful for selecting general parameters related to the three environmental

C.2. ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK 69

Figure C.3: The gross input and output of a shipyards processes (adapted from [1].

C.2.3 Phase 3: Identify general performance indicators

The third phase involves the selection of general performance indicators. The literature reveals a wide variety of indicators that have been used to measure environmental perfor- mance in different sectors, for instance the production (manufacturing) industry and build- ing industry. This section aims at combining indicators of different industries, to come to a suitable framework for assessing shipyard environmental performance. The defined en- vironmental objective and environmental indicators figure as guideline for the selection of appropriate performance indicators. The selection is done based on the following criteria, namely relevance, comparability, verifiability, clarity and comprehensive [8]. The general performance indicators are divided into core indicators and sub-indicators, which are also categorized in operational indicators, environmental management indicators and manage- ment related indicators.

The use of different categories and priorities makes it possible to combine quantitative and qualitative measurements. Where the core indicators are defined as more quantitative indicators, are sub-indicators more supporting and use more qualitative data. Indicators applying a quantitative measurement do not show any corrective measures already taken, which is only shown when a second measurement is performed. Types of data included are tons of waste generated, number of work days, or pounds of packaging produced [57]. The use of these indicators easily quantifies the performance on a specific topic, however using more qualitative measures is important to have insight in the action performed to improve environmental performance. Examples of measure are the amount of performance audits performance during a year. If such an audit is implemented, the performance of the quan-

70 APPENDIXC. GREEN PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT to cover the complexity, diversity and interlinking factors of a shipyard. However, these indi- cators are complex to quantify and therefore measurable in a more qualitative manner. The operational indicators measure the environmental burden caused by the shipyards activities, these EPIs are designed based on the principle of resource balance, e.g. considering input and output of energy and resources into/from an entire shipyard activity and designed to un- derstand the whole shipyards activities. Environmental management indicators measuring methods that manage and operate resources for the shipyard activities and their environ- mental activities. Management relative indicators do not measure environmental burdens directory, however, they are considered as indicator because they are necessary to calcu- late energy or resource efficiency, and to reduce environmental burden per unit regarding the economic influence in order to realize a sustainable society. The combination of these types of indicators is necessary to understand environmental activities, as the core activities only measure the environmental efforts quantitatively.

Selecting appropriate indicates requires insight in the shipyards activities as mentioned above. A hierarchical perspective is commonly used to classify specific tasks in modern production systems, where organising activities are performed at multiple levels. The hierar- chical perspective is not only useful for the selection of appropriate performance indicators, but also to be able to distinguish between baseline performance and the case study. For the purpose of this research, there is concentrated on the following three levels: whole factory, process chains and individual production processes [58].

A shipyard is mostly specialised in one of the following three purposes, namely newbuild- ing, repair & conversion or dismantling. This research focuses on newbuilding, and repair & conversion yards, whereby each process chain consist of a number of production activities. Production activity is the individual production operation of a process chain or production line where operational activities occur. Each production process involves other non-process related building facilities. Figure C.4 shows the relation between the input, throughput and output of the production process. With the knowledge of the process-chains of a shipyard, there can be determined if a specific production process or building facility has a relation with the determined indicators, which is required to make the assessment framework operational. Besides referring to the shipyard activities, knowledge about the different environmental indicators is required and therefore, a reference is made to the topics discussed in the pre- vious Section B.3. Improving the environmental impact of energy is done by reducing the use, changing to renewable sources and improving efficiency of fossil fuels. The impact of material waste and liquid waste is reduced by reducing the use, improving the reuse and recycling or minimizing the use, change to renewable sources and improve efficiency of the resources used. These elements are important to consider while selecting appropriate EPIs. In total, there are nine core indicators, of which there are four corresponding with the de- fined environmental indicators. Each of these core indicators involves specific sub-indicators related to one of the three categories explained above. Some sub-indicators supplement the core indicators to quantify the performance and others give more insight in other factors re- lated to a shipyards processes and performance. The indicators applicable for this research

C.2. ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK 71

Figure C.4: The input, throughput and output of the production processes (new built, repair or conversion)

Figure C.5.

C.2.4 Phase 4: Formulate specific environmental Performance Indicators (EPIs)

Integrating the general performance indicators into specific EPIs is important to measure and record environmental efforts [8]. These general indicators are not self-explaining in terms of the performance of a shipyard, and therefore combining these indicators into EPIs is necessary. The customization is necessary for the development of a framework applicable for assessing the performance of a shipyard. It is recommendable to use a manageable number of indicators, normally between ten and twenty, assuring that the company has relevant, few and simple performance indicators linked to its environmental objectives [56]. The EPIs aim to compare shipyards in terms of their performance regarding energy use, material waste and liquid waste. Table C.1 shows a list of EPIs, whereby the translation to EPIs is a way to normalize the data [1], for instance per product produced or persons worked.