Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Factory and trade waste--Recycling--Iowa; Recycling industry--Iowa; Factory and trade waste--Recycling; Recycling industry; Iowa; Academic theses;

Abstract

The proliferation of industry around the globe, coupled with concerns about the dwindling supply of raw materials, has fostered the emergence of a new manufacturing ideology. In contrast to the linear manufacturing model, raw material in and finished product out, precision manufacturing takes waste material in and provides a new product out. Companies in this study who participated in precision manufacturing were identified as partners when one company sold or traded a waste product to a separate company who used the waste in their primary production. This study was initiated to determine the factors present in successful waste exchange partnerships in the State of Iowa. There were 25 companies in 10 counties in Iowa with a total of 153 waste exchange relationships included in this study. Sixty percent of companies who are involved in precision manufacturing have made monetary investments. Eighty-seven percent of companies used internal funding sources for their partnerships. Companies whose primary focus was manufacturing, 64% of the companies researched, used internal funding 31% of the time. Of companies whose primary focus was recycling used internal funding 89% of the time. An analysis was conducted to trace the source(s) of funding that companies utilized in contrast to the length of time that the companies had participated in exchange partnerships. Companies who have been in partnerships increase the percentage of internal funding as the length of partnership increases, from 12% internal funding during 4-7 years, to 70% internal funding in partnerships of 15+ years. Recognition as a leader in environmentally sound technology use, both within the specific industry fields and within the general public, was used as a marketing tool for 96% of corporations. The positive image that precision manufacturing creates for exchange partners is deemed more important to maintaining successful exchange partnerships than a decrease in landfill usage.

Year of Submission

2003

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services

First Advisor

Catherine L. Zeman

Second Advisor

Diane Depken

Third Advisor

Thomas F. Capshew

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

2003

Object Description

1 PDF file (143 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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