SEPTEMBER 20238MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTSIN MY OPINIONBy Raymond Kent, ASTC, Associate AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Principal, Senior Design Leader, DLR Group360 LIFE-CYCLE MANUFACTURING, TECHNOLOGY, AND A SOLUTION TO E-WASTEThirty years ago, technology that required any sort of electronics was new to most people. Personal computers were a quirky luxury, cell phones, for the most part, were still giant bricks with incredibly short battery life and only capable of making phone calls, and no one was aware of this thing called the World Wide Web outside of universities or the Government. Ten years ago, you could barely book a plane ticket, rent a car, or watch any real video on demand. On the manufacturing side, automation and integration of technology was mostly limited to simple machine language and process controls running rudimentary robotics. Today, technology is moving data at petaflops per second coupled with machine learning, advanced AI, and automation over networks that would have made past generations dizzy with wonder and it keeps growing exponentially.With this explosion of electronics integration into everyday technologies and manufacturing processes, we have generated not only amazing solutions to a multitude of problems, but unfortunately, generated an increasing problem of E-Waste, of which over 50-million tons and growing in the US and Europe are generated each year with only about 20% being recycled. Additionally, the resources to produce these technologies that keep our economy humming are finite and shrinking as raw materials. The recent chip shortage left many industries in the lurch scrambling for anything they could get their hands on, slowing or stopping production, or having to delay shipping and sales severely impacting revenues. One such industry that was hit hard was the consumer electronics industry fueled by a global pandemic that created unprecedented demand for technology that could accommodate remote work and keep us Raymond Kent
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