Environmental Performance Assessment of Injection Mold Manufacturing Processes Using Quantitative Environmental Indicators

This study evaluates the environmental performance of injection mold manufacturing processes using quantitative environmental indicators. The research was conducted as a case study at FMB S.r.l., an Italian company specialized in the design and production of high-precision plastic injection molds. While numerous studies address the environmental impacts of plastic products, the environmental burden associated with mold manufacturing itself remains relatively underexplored. The methodological framework of the study follows the principles of ISO 14031 for Environmental Performance Evaluation. A hybrid approach combining top-down facility data and bottom-up process-level analysis was applied to quantify resource consumption and environmental outputs within the facility. The system boundary follows a gate-to-gate approach and includes all manufacturing activities such as CAD/CAM design, CNC machining, EDM machining, finishing operations, and production support systems. A set of environmental performance indicators was developed to represent key operational aspects of the manufacturing processes, including energy intensity, water intensity, material efficiency, waste generation, and chemical consumption. The indicators were calculated using facility data from the reference year 2024 and normalized per mold and per operating hour. The results identify CNC machining as the most energy-intensive stage of mold manufacturing, followed by production support systems such as compressed air generation. The proposed indicator-based framework enables the identification of environmental hotspots and supports improvements in resource efficiency within mold manufacturing operations.