Dear Colleagues,

Manufacturing and service industries are now dealing with an increasingly uncontrollable business context, which results from: the speed of change in technology and market demands; the uncertainty in confidently predicting the future; the number, variety, and correlation among factors affecting businesses’ performance; the amount of incomplete, contradictory or inaccurate information available to support the decision-making process. In fact, this context is changing the way businesses must be managed.

Many industries are now starting to plan for or to adapt themselves to the so-called fourth industrial revolution in a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous) business context, while others are still in the middle of doing so. However, the next revolution, so-called Industry 5.0, is already well on its way. Beyond efficiency and productivity, the role and the contribution of industries to society are additional requirements that need to be considered in business management.

In this uncontrollable and highly competitive business environment, production process design, planning, control, and improvement have relevant roles in businesses’ sustainability. Therefore, contributions to this Special Issue of Sustainability must further explore, from a theoretical and practical point of view, how artificial intelligence and smart systems are redesigning operations in the production of goods or services; how environmental and social responsibilities required from organizations are integrated or changing operations management and supply chain design; how organizational culture and governance contribute to implementing sustainable production practices; how human-centric and resilient operations are managed to leverage organizations’ sustainability and competitiveness; how virtualization and big data availability is transforming operations management and improving production process efficiency.

These are examples of research topics this Special Issue aims to cover in order to provide the necessary theoretical frameworks, guidelines to their implementation, and/or results achieved in practice to researchers and all of those whose decisions impact operations management and organizations’ performance. Original research articles and reviews in which operations management principles, tools, practices, and insights are applied to improve some combination of environmental, social, and economic outcomes are welcome, but the scope of this Special Issue is not limited to this. Unsuccessful case studies concerning the development and implementation of a methodology, technique, technology, or other resource will also be considered for publication.

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Prof. Dr. Nuno Ricardo Pais Costa
Prof. Dr. Pedro Filipe do Carmo Cunha
Prof. Dr. Abbas Al-Refaie
Guest Editors

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• competitiveness
• productivity
• smart manufacturing
• industrial revolution
• VUCA
• big data
• simulation
• artificial intelligence
• circular economy
• automation