Advance in Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing Towards Sustainability
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 10
Special Issue Editors
Interests: manufacturing technologies; machining processes; advanced materials CAD/CAM/CAE/CNC; additive manufacturing; materials testing and characterization and digital twin
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: sustainability; digital design; 3D modelling; additive manufacturing; sustainable apparel systems; biobased materials; VR/AR for design; material-driven and regenerative design
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue explores how Industry 4.0 and digital technologies (IoT/sensing, CNC machining, CAM/toolpath optimization, AI/ML, digital twins, robotics, and additive manufacturing) can deliver measurable environmental and socioeconomic gains, rather than just new capabilities. With this Special Issue we seek to attract cross-sector studies, including those focusing on underrepresented areas, such as the apparel industry, that connect circular design with real-time monitoring, traceability, repair/on-demand models, and human-centered automation. The aim is to gather together work on practical methods that define and track sustainability, energy use, waste, emissions, water utilization, material circularity, and labor, and that show region-tailored pathways to adoption.
In the literature, technological advances are often discussed as being distinct from impact accounting. Building on policy frameworks and on regional evidence (e.g., short product lifecycles, linear chains, weak waste systems, and greenwashing risks), this Special Issue seeks contributions that couple Industry 4.0 interventions with rigorous LCA/S-LCA, transparent metrics, and governance insights. The goal is a concise evidence base that others can replicate to scale smart, genuinely sustainable manufacturing.
Prof. Dr. Apostolos Korlos
Dr. Maria Zoumaki
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Industry 4.0
- smart manufacturing
- sustainability metrics
- circular economy
- IoT sensing & traceability
- regional lens
- policy–practice gap
- socio-economic challenges
- additive manufacturing (3D printing)
- CNC machining
- life cycle assessment (LCA)
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