Sustainable Manufacturing Strategies Research Articles

A methodology to assess circular economy strategies for sustainable manufacturing using process eco-efficiency

A growing number of companies engage in sustainability, with early adopters already realizing financial and environmental benefits. However, the current linear production model followed by most manufacturers is widely recognized as not being sustainable. The circular economy model can be an eco-friendly alternative to production and consumption, ensuring a smooth transition to sustainable practices. In this study, the impact of various sustainable practices in manufacturing is reviewed as well as the impact of life cycle assessment in the quantification of the impact of the sustainable practices. However, a simple and fast methodology for manufacturers to get a first indication about the potential improvements in their production lines and required changes for adopting circular economy practices is missing from the literature. The main objective of this study is to provide a quantified methodology that facilitates decision-making at a manufacturing process and system level regarding the adoption of more sustainable strategies. An eco-efficiency indicator is proposed targeting the reduction of energy consumption and manufacturing waste caused by production operations, on top of the life cycle assessment and cost analysis of a process. The indicator combines a process's environmental performance, whose calculation is performed using life cycle assessment studies, and the process's value performance, whose calculation is derived from a combination of a life cycle costing analysis with the process and product-related metrics encapsulated under the umbrella of the overall equipment effectiveness, and of a cost of implementation metrics signifying the required cost for replacing existing equipment to adopt a circular economy strategy. Additionally, the indicator is not constrained by any geographical coverage and applies to any manufacturing use case as long as the life cycle assessment model is constructed using the ISO 14044:2006 standard. The proposed approach is examined in two industrial use cases, in which the proposed indicator is evaluated against three potential circular economy strategies for improved sustainability, the use of renewable energy sources, and material reuse.

Sustainable design and manufacturing strategies, review in an appliance company

This article describes an overview of the concepts and main techniques related to sustainable design and production that are being developed in companies today to maintain a balance of resources. Using an information documentation method, the practices in a Mexican company that manufactures household appliances are examined. The information obtained suggests that the company has adopted measures and strategies to improve the environmental performance of its products. The product and process design phase is fundamental not only in the search for operational excellence for companies, but also in achieving benefits that have an impact on the environment.

Application of Smart Strategies for Sustainable Manufacturing of Conventional Machining Process: A Review

Application of Smart Strategies for Sustainable Manufacturing of Conventional Machining Process: A Review

A Review on Uncertainty Cases in Additively Manufactured Polylactic Acid Using Fused Filament Fabrication Technique

Polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the most frequently used materials in Additive Manufacturing (AM) because it is considered as a nontoxic, biodegradable, and biocompatible material. In addition, Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), or also known as Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM), is a desirable additive manufacturing technique to manufacture PLA because of its relatively low cost and geometrical flexibility. However, the uncertainty existence can lead to unpredicted failure scenarios, which highly can affect the quality and cost. This review focusses on the different works carried out on the identification of the effective parameters in the additively manufactured PLA when using FFF technique in order to provide the reader with an overview about different uncertainty cases for these common material and technique. Here, we seek to reduce the likelihood of failures when using the additively manufactured PLA using FFF technique. Some future ideas are suggested to develop new strategies with the object of improving several objectives such cost, quality, and productivity. In this way, we do not only need to obtain rapid prototyping, but rapid, economic, and sustainable manufacturing strategies are needed to be closer to a sustainable environment.

Feasibility of Coacervate-Like Nanostructure for Instant Drug Nanoformulation.

Despite the enormous advancements in nanomedicine research, a limited number of nanoformulations are available on the market, and few have been translated to clinics. An easily scalable, sustainable, and cost-effective manufacturing strategy and long-term stability for storage are crucial for successful translation. Here, we report a system and method to instantly formulate NF achieved with a nanoscale polyelectrolyte coacervate-like system, consisting of anionic pseudopeptide poly(l-lysine isophthalamide) derivatives, polyethylenimine, and doxorubicin (Dox) via simple "mix-and-go" addition of precursor solutions in seconds. The coacervate-like nanosystem shows enhanced intracellular delivery of Dox to patient-derived multidrug-resistant (MDR) cells in 3D tumor spheroids. The results demonstrate the feasibility of an instant drug formulation using a coacervate-like nanosystem. We envisage that this technique can be widely utilized in the nanomedicine field to bypass the special requirement of large-scale production and elongated shelf life of nanomaterials.

The role of artificial intelligence-driven soft sensors in advanced sustainable process industries: A critical review

With the predicted depletion of natural resources and alarming environmental issues, sustainable development has become a popular as well as a much-needed concept in modern process industries. Hence, manufacturers are quite keen on adopting novel process monitoring techniques to enhance product quality and process efficiency while minimizing possible adverse environmental impacts. Hardware sensors are employed in process industries to aid process monitoring and control, but they are associated with many limitations such as disturbances to the process flow, measurement delays, frequent need for maintenance, and high capital costs. As a result, soft sensors have become an attractive alternative for predicting quality-related parameters that are ‘hard-to-measure’ using hardware sensors. Due to their promising features over hardware counterparts, they have been employed across different process industries. This article attempts to explore the state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (Al)-driven soft sensors designed for process industries and their role in achieving the goal of sustainable development. First, a general introduction is given to soft sensors, their applications in different process industries, and their significance in achieving sustainable development goals. AI-based soft sensing algorithms are then introduced. Next, a discussion on how AI-driven soft sensors contribute toward different sustainable manufacturing strategies of process industries is provided. This is followed by a critical review of the most recent state-of-the-art AI-based soft sensors reported in the literature. Here, the use of powerful AI-based algorithms for addressing the limitations of traditional algorithms, that restrict the soft sensor performance is discussed. Finally, the challenges and limitations associated with the current soft sensor design, application, and maintenance aspects are discussed with possible future directions for designing more intelligent and smart soft sensing technologies to cater the future industrial needs.

An Exploratory Analysis of Sustainability Indicators in Turkish Small- and Medium-Sized Industrial Enterprises

Significant differences exist between the sustainability practices of large businesses and those of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the industrial sector. Small- and medium-sized enterprises have restricted access to capital, resources, and experience. Most sustainable manufacturing strategies are based on indicators and evaluation models developed for large firms. This study aims to identify sustainability indicators for small- and medium-sized industrial firms. The sustainability indicators are generated from the G4-specific standard disclosures of the Global Reporting Initiative, which provide a triple-bottom-line approach. A total of 142 senior and middle sustainability-focused managers and partners participated in the survey. An exploratory factor analysis was performed in the first step, and 12 key factors were found. The Best–Worst Method (BWM) was employed in the second step to rank the criteria in order of priority. As a theoretical contribution, this study introduces human rights and economic impact on society as two additional sustainability indicators for small- and medium-sized enterprises. The two most significant aspects of sustainability for Turkish small- and medium-sized businesses are labor rights and energy saving. This study provides empirical evidence from a broad range of stakeholders for the conceptually addressed challenges of sustainability in prior studies. The results demonstrate empirically that the sustainability-based value creation for stakeholder interests, such as employees at the core of business activities, is greater in small and medium enterprises than for other stakeholders. This study’s findings will give managers a framework for establishing key sustainability indicators for allocating the limited resources of small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Productivity improvement through the development of sustainability metrics in wire manufacturing industry

Lean manufacturing practices are currently becoming the driving force for the development of new strategies for green and sustainable manufacturing. Conventional value stream mapping (VSM) can be extended to sustainable value stream mapping (Sus-VSM), which assesses not only economical aspects but also environmental and social dimensions of sustainability. The productivity of the industries can be enhanced by mapping the current practises and scopes so that improvements can be easily identified and standardised. This paper deals with the development and assessment of sustainability metrics in four dimensions of sustainability to improve the productivity of the manufacturing industries. The sustainable VSM is validated in a wire manufacturing industry and various techniques of improvement are suggested to the industry. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) technique is done using the Solidworks sustainability module to quantitatively assess the environmental impacts of all the stages of a product's life. Analytical hierarchy process is used to analyse, identify and prioritise various metrics, likely to have a greater impact on productivity and sustainability.

Digital twin and big data-driven sustainable smart manufacturing based on information management systems for energy-intensive industries

Internet of Things (IoT) technology, which has made manufacturing processes more smart, efficient and sustainable, has received increasing attention from the industry and academia. As one of the most important applications for IoT, sustainable smart manufacturing enables lower cost, higher productivity and flexibility, better quality and sustainability during the product lifecycle management. Over the years, numerous enterprises have promoted the implementation of both sustainable and smart manufacturing. In the Industry 4.0 context, a ‘digital twin’ is widely used to achieve smart manufacturing, although this approach often ignores sustainability. This study aims to simultaneously consider digital twin and big data technologies to propose a sustainable smart manufacturing strategy based on information management systems for energy-intensive industries (EIIs) from the product lifecycle perspective. The integration of digital twin and big data provides key technologies for data acquisition in energy-intensive production environments, prediction and mining in uncertain environments as well as real-time control in complex working conditions. Moreover, a digital twin-driven operation mechanism and an overall framework of big data cleansing and integration are designed to explain and illustrate sustainable smart manufacturing. Two case studies from Southern and Northern China demonstrate the efficacy of the strategy, with the results showing that Companies A and B achieved the goals of energy saving and cost reduction after implementing the proposed strategy. By applying an energy management system, the unit energy consumption and energy cost of production in Company A decreased by at least 3%. In addition, the ‘cradle-to-gate’ lifecycle big data analysis indicates that the costs of environmental protection in Company B decrease significantly. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed strategy and some managerial insights for EIIs in China are analysed and discussed.

Milling performance evaluation and cooling/lubrication mechanism of Al-50wt% Si alloy based on various environmentally sustainable manufacturing strategies

Milling performance evaluation and cooling/lubrication mechanism of Al-50wt% Si alloy based on various environmentally sustainable manufacturing strategies

Environment-Social-Governance Disclosures nexus between Financial Performance: A Sustainable Value Chain Approach

Governments, institutions, and organisations are being persuaded by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to include environmental-social-governance (ESG) measures in their disclosure systems and sustainable management practices. With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, institutional investors are shifting their focus from profit-making to sustainable and ethical investment. Investors are majorly focussing on ESG measures with financial incentives while making investment decisions. Empirical evidences indicate that firms disclosing ESG measures are likely to outperform others by reducing the risk and enhancing the economic performance, although the results may vary. ESG measures not only promote economic incentives but also encourage sustainable production through value accretive supply chain mechanism. The present study tries to explore the ESG disclosure-Corporate Financial Performance (CFP) nexus w.r.t the presence of sustainable value chains, considering the panel data of 1,170 firm-level observations from 2012 to 2020. In order to resolve endogeneity issue, we use Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) and system GMM approach. The study also focuses on the presence of foreign ownership along with the environmental and social supply chain management practices in ESG–CFP nexus. The findings highlight ESG as an indicator of a sustainable manufacturing strategy and support the link between ESG and CFP.

Investigating the ‘techno-eco-efficiency’ performance of pump impellers: metal 3D printing vs. CNC machining

The economic, environmental, and social impacts caused by the extensive resource consumption and harmful emissions from the metal manufacturing industry should be lowered through innovative sustainable manufacturing strategies. This study aims to investigate the techno-eco-efficiency performance of metal 3D-printed parts in comparison with CNC-machined parts to determine the technical, economic, and environmental performance as a decision support tool for selecting the most techno-eco-efficient manufacturing method. In this study, a novel metal extrusion 3D printing technology has been used to create a centrifugal semi-open pump impeller in 316L stainless steel material. The technical feasibility of the impellers has been determined by evaluating the geometry, build material, mechanics, morphology, and functional performance of the impellers. The eco-efficiency performance of technically feasible impellers was evaluated through environmental life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, and portfolio analysis. This eco-efficiency analysis helped ascertain the cost-competitiveness and environmentally friendliness of the 3D-printed impellers by comparing it with the conventional impellers. The findings reveal that the AM impeller is eco-efficient mainly due to lower normalised environmental impacts (54.6%) compared to the SM impeller. The functional parts made by metal extrusion 3D printing are technically feasible, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly compared to the SM counterparts.

Lean Sustainable Competitive Manufacturing Strategy Assessment: A Case Study in the Indonesian Car Manufacturing Company

The scarcity of resources combined with the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has forced the manufacturing companies to be more prudent in using their production resources such as raw materials, energy, and water. A lean sustainable production system is an effective Competitive Manufacturing Strategy (CMS) that enables companies to sustain their production by identifying the potential waste and pollution. This study aimed to propose a novel framework by combining Sustainable Value Stream Mapping (SVSM) by Hartini and Sustainability Index (SI) assessment model by Garbie to assess the contribution of lean sustainable CMS in enhancing manufacturing performance. An SVSM and pairwise comparison is used to measure the SI. The SVSM is applied to identify the waste, while the pairwise comparison is used to determine each performance indicator's weight. A case study is conducted in an Indonesian car manufacturing company to validate how the lean sustainable CMS improves the SI. The results of this study should guide the practitioners in a standard procedure for assessing the effectiveness of lean sustainable CMS. For academicians, the work provides empirical evidence of the positive impact of lean sustainable CMS practices on the SI.

Sustainable Manufacturing Strategies Adopted by ConstructionEquipment Manufacturing Industries in India

India is a developing country and is laying emphasis on the infrastructure growth and is focusing on development of telecommunications, airlines, airports, ports, highways, railways, housing, power, motor vehicles, banking, manufacturing and others. The impact of development is seen on the environment in the form of air pollution, greenhouse gases emission, water pollution, land pollution, noise pollution, waste generation and its management, depletion of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, loss of water bodies, deforestation, threat to animal life and so on. An approach to balance development, environment impact and wellbeing of society is the need. Sustainable development, along with sustainable manufacturing strategies and sustainable performance measures, is required to facilitate and monitor the infrastructure growth, manufacturing growth and use of goods and services to keep a balance between environment and growth. For the infrastructure development, construction equipment are widely used and hence it is important that their manufacturing and use should be sustainable. This paper focuses on the sustainable strategies adopted by earthmoving and construction equipment manufacturing industries in India which include prevention of pollution, clean technology, product stewardship, life cycle assessment and impact on the environment in the entire life cycle of the product. The paper concludes that the efforts in this direction are presently focused on reducing CO2 emissions, energy conservation and designing and manufacturing the products reducing impact on environment by making them more fuel, carbon and consumable efficient. The scope of this paper is limited to original equipment manufacturers of the earthmoving and construction equipment and does not cover the complete value chain in the life cycle of product. The methodology deployed included introduction to the topic, review of literature, formulating questionnaire and getting responses on questionnaire from the earthmoving and construction equipment manufacturing organisations and use of the statistical tool of Relative Importance Index (RII) for analysing the result. The goal of this paper is to identify the sustainable strategies adopted by these organisations and what aspects are currently being focused and what are the other focus areas. The same is adequately described in the result and discussion section. High importance is given to technologies reducing CO2 emissions, energy consumption and conservation and designing the product to be more fuel-, carbon- and consumable-efficient. Circular economy concepts, integrating the suppliers to reduce environmental impacts in value chain, and renewable energy use are in the initial phase and catching up.

Considerations, benefits and unintended consequences of banning plastic shopping bags for environmental sustainability: A systematic literature review.

Although the ban on plastic bags is gaining in prominence as a policy option to manage plastic bag litter, there are mixed views on its rationale and effectiveness. This study employs a systematic literature review to understand considerations, benefits and unintended consequences of banning plastic bags. The review’s results pointed to the limited success of a plastic bag ban owing to lack of suitable alternatives, limited state capacity to monitor and enforce the ban, thriving black market, structural and instrumental power of the plastic industry. The power of the industry was manifested by the covert practice of deflecting accountability to consumers by focusing on business-oriented solutions, including an inclination towards self-regulation. The findings of this study underscored the need for a global treaty to address the transient nature of plastic bag litter and moving away from the symbolic gesture of targeting only plastic shopping bags but considering the environmental impact of all forms of plastic such as straws, foamed plastics, plastic bottles and caps. There is a general consensus in literature that the end of plastic shopping bags is not nigh due to their utilitarian benefits. This study therefore recommends the promotion of a circular economy focusing on ecological modernisation, sustainable plastic bag manufacturing and recovery strategies such as recycling as a long-term strategy. A significant strand of literature reviewed also recommends the adoption of community-driven approaches such as voluntary initiatives as opposed to a plastic bag ban as they proved to be effective in promoting environmental citizenship behaviours in countries such as Finland.

Material efficiency: a key sustainable manufacturing strategy

Inefficient material utilization results in extra pressure on the environment for the extraction of more material to meet production demand and therefore makes the environment unsustainable. The survival of the manufacturing industry depends on its ability to balance several requirements to meet up with dynamic market demand particularly materials for production ranging from raw materials, intermediate materials to spare components for maintenance. In the past, sustainability and efficiency were no challenges to the manufacturers and material extraction from the environment was always below replenishment. Presently, the reverse is the case where the demand for production material has become incessant and surpasses supply on account of increasing population and modern manufacturing practices thereby resulting in irresponsible exploitation of raw material. This paper aims to evaluate the current efforts in the topic area to gain insight into the impact of material efficiency on the manufacturing performance concerning other manufacturing strategies alongside the environment. It appears from the review that the balance between manufacturing material extraction from the environment and the replenishment rate determines the sustainability of both the manufacturing system and the environment. Hence material efficiency is an index for sustainable manufacturing strategy. We recommend the future research direction to looks into the development and determination of balance between manufacturing material extraction from the environment and the replenishment rate for a sustainable future manufacturing.

Modelling and analysis of barriers of lean sustainability in metal manufacturing organizations

Lean and sustainable manufacturing strategies are essential for enabling manufacturing organisations to survive in the current competitive scenario. A metal manufacturing firm has large scope for implementing lean and sustainability tools as it has issues pertaining to both materials management and Environmental Impact reduction. Several barriers may hinder the implementation of these strategies. In this context, this paper reports a study in which 10 barriers are identified based on a survey among practitioners belonging to various metal manufacturing firms. The barriers are systematically analysed using Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) and the structural model has been developed. The prioritized barriers need to be focused so as to enable the implementation of integrated lean and sustainable strategies in metal manufacturing organizations. The key barriers to be improved included barriers namely Lack of resource availability, Lack of Funds for green and lean projects, Lack of Technology, Lack of Top management commitment and Lack of clear communication. The conduct of the study enabled the industry practitioners to systematically analyze the barriers and provided path for systematic implementation.

Tracking the Biological Incorporation of Exogenous Molecules into Cellulose Fibers with Non‐Radioactive Iodinated Glucose

AbstractSemi‐synthetic biological fabrication explores biological systems and their biosynthetic pathways as inspiration for designing precursor analogs that can be metabolized in a similar manner as the natural substrates by organisms to yield new materials with tailored properties. Here we report the biological incorporation of a metabolizing iodinated glucose analog (2‐Deoxy‐2‐iodo‐D‐glucose, DIG) into Gossypium hirsutum cotton fibers in an ovule in‐vitro model. Structural modifications occur at the level of crystallite arrangement and compaction, with amorphization of the fibers and alteration of the H‐bond network between the cellulose nanofibrils. We further show that DIG can serve as a non‐radioactive micro computed tomography contrast agent (μCT). The fibers act as glucose sinks that accumulate DIG, enabling its detection by μCT. Quantitative analysis shows that the fibers are more oriented when incubated with DIG. This work demonstrates the advantages of using higher organisms for biological in‐situ transformation of economically important raw materials over conventional chemical surface modification processes, thereby providing a scientific foundation for implementing future alternatives and sustainable manufacturing strategies towards a bio‐based economy.

Analysing the support of sustainability within the manufacturing strategy through multiple perspectives of different business functions

This paper proposes an empirical study aimed at characterizing the evolution of a company towards a sustainable manufacturing strategy, with a special emphasis on the role played by the business functions within the industrial organization. In the study, a methodology to evaluate and rank the sustainable manufacturing strategy in different production contexts is developed, stemming from the fact that there is a lack of objective methods for sustainable manufacturing strategy ranking in the literature. The analysis method consists of an Analytic Hierarchy Process applied to competitive priorities and manufacturing performances. It enables a structured reflection that considers the multiple perspectives of different decision-makers in business functions relevant to the implementation of sustainability in the manufacturing strategy. The main objective of the approach proposed in this study is to provide a methodology able to give an integrated view of the economic, environmental and social dimensions of the manufacturing plants. The proposed methodology is applied in two application case studies referring to two different production contexts. The application cases show the usefulness of the methodology to assess how sustainability is supported in the manufacturing strategy, with specific concern to the evolution of a manufacturing plant towards a sustainable manufacturing strategy.

Development of structural equation model for Lean Six Sigma system incorporated with sustainability considerations

PurposeThe study aims to describe the development of a structural measurement model using structural equation modeling technique to validate the association that exists between Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and sustainable manufacturing strategies.Design/methodology/approachBoth LSS and sustainable manufacturing aim at improving the firm’s business competitiveness which forms a strategic link that benefits the manufacturing organizations. The study aims to investigate the relationship among constructs that leads to operational excellence while deploying LSS and sustainable manufacturing strategies in organizations.FindingsEmpirical data needed for the study are collected from experts belonging to various industries that are implementing both LSS and sustainable manufacturing practices. Later statistical estimates (hypotheses) are being formulated to confirm the developed measurement model. Based on the obtained results after analysis of the structural model, the statistical estimate is either being accepted or rejected. Results of this study reveal that there exists a strong correlation between LSS and sustainable manufacturing factors that leads to organizational performance.Research limitations/implicationsAdditional indicators could be included to deal with technological advancements in sustainable manufacturing.Practical implicationsThe study has been done with regard to Indian automotive component manufacturing organizations scenario. Hence, the inferences derived have practical relevance.Originality/valueThe development of structural model for the Lean Six Sigma system with sustainability considerations is the original contribution of the authors.