Abstract

Sustainable development is about reaching a balance between economic, social, and environmental goals, as well as people’s participation in the planning process in order to gain their input and support. For a foundry, sustainable development means adoption of strategy and actions that contribute to higher yield with a minimum environmental impact. This new approach forces foundries to change their behavior. Management should include new issues and develop innovative methods, practices and technologies striving for solving problem of shortages of resources in particular energy. Hence, its realization requires updating existing production models. The main message of sustainability for foundries is to expand the range of analysis and focusing on processes. Lean thinking offers numerous opportunities for more efficient resources utilization. Here some energy saving methods toward a more efficient and a sustainable foundry are briefly discussed.