Achieving sustainability in supply chain operations in the interplay between circular economy and Industry 4.0

Abstract

Circular economy (CE) is an emerging industrial paradigm in manufacturing supply chains (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2012; Urbinati, Chiaroni, and Chiesa 2017). CE, in manufacturing supply chains, emphasises a circular approach to energy and materials for providing economic, environmental and social benefits of ‘triple bottom line’ (Geissdoerfer et al. 2017). CE reconciles the outlook for a nation's economic growth with the environmental and social benefits, while, at an enterprise level, it aims to create superior value (Henley 2013). CE addresses some of the issues relating to ecological degradation and resource scarcity in the business context (Vladimirova 2017). Supply chain managers can improve resource efficiency and profitability of manufacturing facilitates through effective CE mechanisms and minimise the negative impacts of production operations.