Sustainable Capital Investments : A Case Study of Production Equipment User and Supplier Cooperation in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Abstract: Capital investments provide both the opportunity and responsibility to design for sustainability since most of the environmental impact of a production system is determined by the design phase. However, today’s capital investment process of production lacks adaptation to sustainability needs. This thesis identifies the main deficiencies in the capital investment process of production that currently limit the environmental performance of equipment by means of a pharmaceutical industry case. The results indicate that to foster a more sustainable capital investment process, further strategic guidance, responsibility allocation, facilitating organisational conditions, information transparency and sustainability expertise are required. Equipment suppliers consider that better communication and the integration of sustainability into their customers’ business cases can facilitate more environmentally sustainable equipment delivery. A concept is proposed for systematically integrating environmental sustainability into the capital investment process of production in the future.