Application of Artificial Intelligence in Sustainable Manufacturing

Dear Colleagues,

The manufacturing sector is responsible for a significant part of the worldwide energy consumption. According to the International Energy Agency, energy demands keep rising. Yet, the latest report of Microsoft in association with PwC shows that artificial intelligence has an enormous potential to benefit environmental sustainability and pave the way to a more eco-friendly and energy-efficient manufacturing sector. Artificial intelligence can solve a number of issues that are critical for sustainable manufacturing. This includes excessive use of certain materials, redundant production of scrap waste, inefficient supply chain management, logistics and unequal distribution of energy resources. Most importantly, manufacturing entrepreneurs will not have to invest in numerous solutions, because AI alone can eradicate all of the aforementioned difficulties. AI is able to analyze specific data and accurately predict the expected output, thus eliminating exorbitant material use or waste. Additionally, AI algorithms may be set to make precise recommendations that will strike a balance in energy use. Lastly, artificial intelligence can be used to benefit the supply chain management and logistics with demand forecasting, improved communications, and real-time decision-making solutions. Artificial intelligence is an advanced technology that has the potential to fundamentally transform the manufacturing industry. Leveraging AI can create an efficient and transparent supply chain with significantly decreased operational friction. Moreover, AI is the backbone of efficient quality control systems that instantly identify even the slightest deviations and inform of possible failures in advance. By implementing AI-based technologies like digital twins or generative design, manufacturers are able to avoid expensive product prototyping and generate hundreds of feasible product design options. Most importantly, artificial intelligence will soon create unparalleled working opportunities within the “missing middle” and forge the path towards smart, efficient and sustainable manufacturing. This Special Issue is devoted to the development of advanced AI and data science solutions for a broad range of sustainable manufacturing, which requires simultaneous consideration of economic, environmental, and social aspects during the manufacturing process. Such efforts are importantly beneficial for the sake of deeper understanding of the optimal operational structure of manufacturing systems to achieve the goal of sustainable world. Our objective with this Special Issue is to collect papers that explore recent researches into the concepts, methods, tools, models and applications of artificial intelligence for sustainable manufacturing. Vast area of research topics are interest of this Special Issue including; life cycle engineering; cleaner production; green manufacturing; AI for sustainable solutions; sustainable manufacturing development; smart factories; high-efficiency manufacturing processes; industrial energy use and efficiency; renewable energy manufacturing; resources and energy management, and related topics.

Prof. Dr. Kumaran Kadirgama
Dr. Navid Aslfattahi
Guest Editors

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