Life Cycle Analysis and Sustained Organisation Change in Auto Repair Shops

In order to reduce the environmental impact associated with their products, car producers have not only focused their investments on designing advanced technology vehicles with a low carbon footprint and producing them with as little impact to the environment as possible, but also on promoting solutions based on the principle of satisfying mobility requirements rather than purely on vehicle ownership. Despite such remarkable efforts to satisfy sustainability needs, little attention has been paid to service, repair and maintenance activities and the assistance network. In such a context the purpose of this chapter is to present a model based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework to help the auto repair industry to measure, monitor and improve its performance in order to achieve economic, environmental and competitive advantages. The chapter concludes by proposing an empirical application of the model in a body repair shop.