This paper aims to investigate how the sustainable development is pursued by manufacturing companies according to the extant literature, especially by focusing on Circular Economy (CE) paradigm that ...is considered one of the major drivers for sustainability. Indeed, this research aims to study how CE principles have been adopted in the manufacturing sector leading towards the creation of Circular Manufacturing (CM) strategies. To achieve this goal, a systematic literature review has been conducted. Scopus and Web of Science are the scientific databases used for the review process. The 215 papers selected for the review were analysed through a theoretical framework developed by the authors. This framework enabled to individualize the research streams and the perspectives through which CE strategies adopted by manufacturers have been studied in the extant scientific literature. These research streams are technologies, and evaluation methods and models. Besides, both of these two are studied under two different lenses since they both are mutually considered supportive tools to shift or to maintain a circular system. To conclude, one of the major contributions of this literature review is to provide a clearer definition of CM and to figure out how CM strategies have been addressed by academics in the scientific literature, with the final aim to reduce the confusion emerged in the extant literature around this concept. Last, this review elucidates some scientific literature gaps and suggests future research directions.
•The review identified twelve circular economy strategies adopted by manufacturers.•Circular manufacturing definition based on a systematic literature review.•Circular manufacturing research streams are technologies and assessment methods.•Data exploitation and standardization would ease circular manufacturing adoption.
•The paper aims at introducing the way toward eco-factories of the future.•A focus group study is conducted with 22 European experts.•We highlight research directions and solutions for eco-factories ...in the next 20 years.•Human participants in a manufacturing system can foster change toward eco-factories.•Firm-intern characteristics determine successful transition and competitiveness.
The integration of environmental sustainability and eco-efficiency has been recognized as a means to foster economic and environmental performance, increase competitiveness and use it as a lever to spur innovation. Besides integrating green technologies in the manufacturing system, putting environmental goals on the company agenda, and pursuing green norms and directives, the question is: quo vadis eco-factory? Based on a focus group study with 22 European experts and high-level representatives from industry, policy-makers and academia, we raised the question of what might be the research directions and solutions for eco-factories in the next 20years. Our two major findings suggest that (i) research should more focus on the opportunities that human participants in a manufacturing system can foster change toward eco-factories and that (ii) firm-intern characteristics like enabling environmental capability, organization and structure will likely determine upon successful transition and increased competitiveness.
An information transition gap still exists between cleaner production and sustainable consumption. Governments and organizations should take responsibility for making adequate product-level ...sustainability information available for consumers. This study proposes a set of product-level sustainability attributes that captures influencing factors to facilitate sustainable consumption behavior and plays the role of facilitator in the Attitude-Facilitator-Infrastructure (AFI) framework. The survey method is adopted to gain insights from experts who work in the academic research field and practitioners, and an expert evaluation exercise is used to evaluate the importance and applicability of the attributes. The data received from surveys strongly suggest that consumers are increasingly concerned about the social impact of a product in its production phase and require more related information. From the perspective of experts, “Employees' Working Safety” is becoming an important attribute, but it is very difficult to evaluate. This research could serve as a fundamental study for developing related public or industrial policies, and it contributes to the field of developing an information transition approach from cleaner production to sustainable consumption.
The cosmetics industry requires a long-term sustainable strategy to balance its continuously growing trend worldwide and its resources consumption. In this view, the suppliers' selection process is ...gaining more attention affecting products' overall sustainability. The objective of this contribution is hence to develop and validate the Cosmetics Sustainable Supplier Selection (C-SSS) model allowing the selection of sustainable suppliers for the cosmetic industry, evaluating them in an objective and balanced manner. The model was built relying on both scientific and grey literature, by incorporating the characteristics of existing SSS models usually used separately. The C-SSS enabled to integrate the EMM approach (to reduce the subjectivity), the ANP approach (to evaluate criteria interconnections), and the TOPSIS and ELECTRE models (to create a hybrid compensation model) to support managers in objectively selecting the most sustainable suppliers. The C-SSS model was applied and validated through an industrial use case in a cosmetics Italian company.
The value of Big Data in servitization Opresnik, David; Taisch, Marco
International journal of production economics,
07/2015, Letnik:
165
Journal Article
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Servitization has become a pervasive business strategy among manufacturers, enabling them to undergird their competitive advantage. However, it has at least one weakness. While it is used worldwide ...also in economies with lower production costs, services in manufacturing are slowly becoming commoditized and will become a necessary, though not sufficient, condition for reaching an above average competitive advantage. Consequently, in this article we propose a new basis for competitive advantage for manufacturing enterprises called a Big Data Strategy in servitization. We scrutinize how manufacturers can exploit the opportunity arising from combined Big Data and servitization. Therefore, the concept of a Big Data Strategy framework in servitization is proposed. The findings are benchmarked against established frameworks in the Big Data and servitization literature. Its impact on competitive advantage is assessed through three theoretical perspectives that increase the validity of the results. The main finding is that, through the proposed strategy, new revenue streams can be created, while opening the possibility to decrease prices for product–services. Through the proposed strategy manufacturers can differentiate themselves from the ones that are already servitizing. This article introduces the possibility of influencing the most important of the five “Vs” in Big Data–Value, in addition to the other four “Vs”—Volume, Variety, Velocity and Verification. As in regards to servitization, the article adds a third layer of added value— “information”, beside the two existing ones: product and service. The results have strategic implications for managers.
•A new business strategy for manufacturers that already servitize is introduced.•It’s a Big Data strategy that enables to exploit data arising from servitization.•The fifth “V” – value of information – is impacted positively.•It offers the potential to create new relevant revenue streams.•It creates a third layer of added-value to the process of servitization.•The value of servitization shifts from providing services towards generating data.
Sustainability is and will be a crucial issue for the present and future generations. The current assumption that natural resources are infinite and that the regenerative capacity of the environment ...is able to compensate for all human action is no longer acceptable. Hence, sustainability issues will influence all organisational aspects of the human life, from the economical, political, social and environmental points of view. The reason is simple: until now, all human activities have been based on the paradigm of unlimited resources and unlimited world's capacity for regeneration; from now on, the awareness of the termination of this assumption means that all related behavioural models must be changed. This is a very impressive objective embracing all fields of culture, economy, technology and much more. A continuing effort, together with a reasonable time span, will be required to pursue this goal. Fortunately, nature and the environment are capable of self-regulation and will give man a chance to recover from the damage he is causing to the earth mother, provided that the will to do so is firmly established. Manufacturing, as the main pillar of the civilised lifestyle, will be strongly affected by the sustainability issues and it will play an important role in establishing a sustainable way ahead. Today, nearly all manufacturing models are based on the old paradigm. Technology, on which the manufacturing is largely based, is asked, together with culture and economy, to give the tools and options for building new solutions towards a sustainable manufacturing concept. Generally speaking, new technology, new business models and new lifestyle models will be the cornerstones of the new sustainable world and this will be particularly true for what concerns the manufacturing sector. Impressive constraints and requirements will affect the industrial sector on the way ahead towards sustainability. Research and development will play a crucial role to this concern, having the responsibility to offer appropriate options to the society for answering the above-mentioned needs. The main evidences on researches challenges expected for sustainable manufacturing are outlined by the authors that have been involved in the IMS international project 'IMS2020: Supporting Global Research for IMS2020 Vision', promoted by the European Commission to prepare a roadmap for future (2020) manufacturing research.
ABSTRACTThis paper addresses the problem of integrating sustainability and business issues in manufacturing through the implementation of Industry 4.0 and process management. The objective of this ...work is to propose a novel methodology to guide companies in benefitting the so-called Twin Transition (digital and sustainable) drivers at the operation level for reaching business and strategic objectives. The proposed methodology results in a unique tool to address both strategic and business objectives and sustainability through practical managerial actions and technological implementations. The roadmapping methodology is divided into five phases that, starting from the definition of corporate objective and strategy, provide a comprehensive, multi-dimensional, cross-functional plan of Industry 4.0 technology implementation and related changes in terms of processes and Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) architectures. The methodology is presented through an application case performed on an Aerospace company site devoted to the assembly, integration, and test of satellites.
The Twin Transition is gaining increasing relevance in the manufacturing sector as it strives to implement and exploit digital technologies to improve the Environmental Sustainability of companies. ...This topic holds particular relevance in the Cosmetic Industry. However, cosmetics companies, especially Small and Medium Enterprises, encounter challenges in effectively implementing digital technologies. This results in a substantial gap between the theoretical potential of the Twin Transition and the practical implementations. To fill the gap, a key role might be played by assessment and roadmapping tools that provide companies with the help and support they need. In this contribution a novel assessment and roadmapping tool is proposed. The employed methodology combines a systematic literature review with Action research approach. The proposed tool is called the Twin Transition Cosmetic Roadmapping Tool. It supports enterprises in the assessment of their current level of Twin Transition based on which a roadmap for improvement is framed. It is the first Twin Transition roadmapping tool specific for cosmetics industry. Furthermore, it encompasses all the mechanisms by which Twin Transition can be achieved throughout the entire product life cycle. The paper concludes with an application of the tool in an industrial case study, presenting and discussing the results.
•A novel assessment and roadmapping tool supporting cosmetics manufacturing companies in Twin Transition is proposed.•It is the first tool supporting Twin Transition in a punctual way tailored for cosmetics industry.•The methodology is an innovative approach integrating systematic literature review and Action research.•A demonstration case in a real cosmetic medium enterprise is described.
•Methodology for work design & assessment in CPS, industrial cases application.•Multiple perspective emphasizing activities’ features non replaceable by technology.•Coverage of ordinary and irregular ...scenarios, such as failure and maintenance.•General guidelines for CPS-enabled services to support human activities.•A first step towards formal quantitative methods and simulations.
The Industry 4.0 vision, grounded on the integration of key technologies and Cyber-Physical-Systems (CPSs), is expected to profoundly modify the manufacturing sector. There is large consensus on the fact that work will change and different skills will be needed. However, whether the organization of work will evolve towards higher responsibility and decision-making of the employees or towards higher technological control is still an open question. The challenge is how to govern this evolution and purposely guide the process of integrating people within CPSs in order to move towards the desired scenario. This paper addresses this challenge, by proposing a methodology to support the design and assessment of different work configurations, jointly considering the uniqueness of human labour and the characteristics of cyber-physical production within a comprehensive framework. The method covers ordinary production as well as irregular scenarios, such as failure detection or maintenance intervention, particularly interesting for human work. The applicability of the method is illustrated through two industrial cases, leading to suggestions for training the personnel and for enhancing the whole cyber- physical-social system. Results include human-centric Key Performance indicators (KPIs) and general guidelines for work design. The approach encourages managers and engineers to clarify their strategy for human resources; develops a multi-perspective awareness on the role of workers; fosters an early detection of possible misalignment between the high-level strategies and the technical interventions on the shop floor. The modelling, analysis and assessment technique developed aims at representing a first step towards formal and quantitative methods to support the design of human work integrated within cyber-physical-systems.
Humans are all makers of a sort. The tools we operate constantly leverage our human capabilities and evolve over history to take advantage of any innovation or a new source of power that emerges. ...Human-Technology Symbiosis has always been the basis for leaps in human prosperity. As we are presently in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0, it is important to focus on challenges and opportunities of contemporary work-life. Here we find the worker, the operator, benefitting from cyber-physical systems technology, connectivity, and global information networks while retaining human strengths and weaknesses. This special issue will describe the implications of a new breed of the manufacturing worker, “The Operator 4.0”. The 13 contributions in this special issue will take us from the early anthropocentric organisational models to the emerging connected and cyber-physically enhanced “Operator 4.0” in highly dynamic work environments. Methods and tools for development and analysis of complex work will support the scholar or practitioner that would like to dig deeper into the future of the potential work-life of the Operator 4.0.
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