Technological Sustainability or Sustainable Technology? A Multidimensional Vision of Sustainability in Manufacturing

Marco Vacchi,Fabio Demaria,Rocío González-Sánchez,Cristina Siligardi,Erika Iveth Cedillo-González,Davide Settembre-Blundo

doi:10.3390/su13179942

Abstract

The topic of sustainability is becoming one of the strongest drivers of change in the marketplace by transforming into an element of competitiveness and an integral part of business strategy. Particularly in the manufacturing sector, a key role is played by technological innovations that allow companies to minimize the impact of their business on the environment and contribute to enhancing the value of the societies in which they operate. Technological process can be a lever to generate sustainable behaviors, confirming how innovation and sustainability constitute an increasingly close pair. However, it emerges that the nature of this relationship is explored by researchers and considered by practitioners almost exclusively in terms of the degree of sustainability of technological solutions. Lacking is an in-depth exploration of how a product or process, in addition to being environmentally and socio-economically sustainable, must or can also be technologically sustainable. This research therefore aims to build a theoretical foundation for technological sustainability seen as a possible fourth dimension of sustainable development.

Highlights

Received: 15 August 2021Accepted: 2 September 2021Published: 4 September 2021Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Technology and sustainability should be considered key factors in a company’s competitiveness, since without these factors it is more difficult to achieve positive results and keep them over time [1]
The methodological framework is divided into two application scheme options:ofone determine methodological framework is divided into twoorapplication options: one determine the the technological sustainability of a product process (P-Technological Sustainability Assessment (TSA))
Three impact categories necessary to determine the level of technology impact along the value chain were defined for both: In-/Outputs Availability (IOA), Operational Performance (OP), and Technical Quality (TQ)

Summary

Introduction

Received: 15 August 2021Accepted: 2 September 2021Published: 4 September 2021Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Technology and sustainability should be considered key factors in a company’s competitiveness, since without these factors it is more difficult to achieve positive results and keep them over time [1]. Technology and sustainability enable companies to achieve higher earnings, reach new markets, expand their customer base, and increase their margins. For this to happen, firms need to embed technology and sustainability within their strategies and corporate culture [2], as well as invest in them and take action to address results and continuously monitor performance [3]. With the growing use of digital platforms, technological innovation is currently helping manufacturing companies to adopt sustainable processes and practices by making available a series of innovative solutions that can support the path to responsible production [7]. Osorio [12] defined sustainability as the ability of man to maintain a certain system in a state of equilibrium

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Conclusion