Circular Yacht Production: Mapping environmental impacts of business processes in yacht building and indicating innovation potential

The yacht building industry is considered an industry with a high environmental impact. Until now, the focus has not been on the impact regarding business processes of the building phase and the excess in resources that are used, ultimately not adding value to the final product. Due to emerging trends in regulations, new sustainable production processes are investigated, ensuring that forms of waste can be reduced and a circular production approach is encouraged. In this thesis, an environmental value stream mapping (EVSM) approach is used in combination with the Eco-indicator99 calculation method to map and assess the environmental impacts of production processes. The EVSM approach is known for the identification regarding improvements in production phases to ultimately propose innovations in future states. The Eco-indicator99 calculation method ensures that various environmental impacts can be related to each other through assigned Ecopoints. This thesis includes the elaboration of a case study by making use of a created methodology towards the reduction of the environmental impact at a yacht building company. Confirming the ability to identify, assess and compare forms of impact and to point out potential innovation areas. The case study supports the feasibility of the proposed EVSM approach of a structured indication and supports the reduction of the environmental impacts present, thereby improving the sustainable performance, efficient use of resources and reduction of costs.Marine Technology | Ship Design, Production and Operation