Special Issue "Manufacturing and Management Paradigms, Methods and Tools for Sustainable Industry 4.0 oriented Manufacturing Systems"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Leonilde Varela
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Production and Systems, School of Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
Interests: manufacturing management; collaborative networks and platforms; decision-support models and systems; Industry 4.0
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Paulo Ávila
E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, ISEP – School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Interests: Innovation, sustainability; manufacturing and management; learning organization; organizational behaviour and development; virtualization
Dr. Hélio Castro
E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
ISEP, Porto School of Engineering, Porto, Portugal
Interests: Agile manufacturing; manufacturing engineering; ubiquitous manufacturing; virtual organizations; organizations complexity; and meta-organization
Dr. Luís Ferreira
E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
IPCA, Polytechnic Institute of Cavado and Ave, Barcelos, Portugal
Interests: Systems Integration; Computer Sciences; Artificial Intelligence; Internet of Things; Data Visualization
Prof. Dr. Luis Miguel Ciravegna Fonseca
E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
School of Engineering of Porto (ISEP), Polytechnic of Porto, INEGI – Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Interests: management; strategy and innovation; human resources management (HRM); sustainability; quality and business excellence
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Dr. Goran D. Putnik
E-Mail Website1 Website2
Co-Guest Editor
University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
Interests: integrated; distributed; agile; and virtual manufacturing systems and enterprises; cloud and ubiquitous manufacturing; learning organizations; Industry 4.0
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Please consider contributing to this Special Issue, which refers to Manufacturing and Management Paradigms, Methods, and Tools for reaching Sustainable Industry 4.0 (or I4.0 for short)-Oriented Manufacturing Systems. It aims at contributing with new insights regarding either manufacturing or management paradigms (strategies), methods, tools, and practices aligned with the contemporary necessity to create and implement sustainable I4.0 manufacturing systems.

Therefore, contributions are encouraged in manufacturing and/or management to reach sustainability in manufacturing systems. The authors should consider, in their original contributions, the clear identification of the I4.0 domain, the clear description of the proposed paradigm, method, tool, and practice approached, and its validation in the scope of at least one of the three main sustainability pillars (economic, environmental, and social).

Regarding this structure, for the authors’ contributions, we expect new theoretical and practical insights for the stakeholders involved in the I4.0 design, management, and/or implementation of sustainable manufacturing systems.

Dr. Maria Leonilde Rocha Varela
Guest Editor

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 papers will be 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 1900 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

  • Economic, environmental, and/or social sustainability
  • Sustainable manufacturing and/or management: Paradigms, Methods, Tools, Practices, Operations, Critical success factors, Metatheory, Organizational change and transformation, Learning organization
  • Circular economy
  • Sustainable Industry 4.0 pillars: Cyber physical systems, Artificial Intelligence, Big data analytics, Supply chain management, Horizontal and vertical integration, Industrial Internet of Things, Cybersecurity, New business models, Open design, Cloud manufacturing, Additive manufacturing, Autonomous and collaborative robots, Simulation and augmented reality

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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Article
Job Adjustment Strategy for Predictive Maintenance in Semi-Fully Flexible Systems Based on Machine Health Status
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 5295; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095295 - 10 May 2021
Viewed by 486
Abstract
Complex systems consist of multiple machines that are designed with a certain extent of redundancy to control any unanticipated events. The productivity of complex systems is highly affected by unexpected simultaneous machine failures due to overrunning of machines, improper maintenance, and natural characteristics. [...] Read more.
Complex systems consist of multiple machines that are designed with a certain extent of redundancy to control any unanticipated events. The productivity of complex systems is highly affected by unexpected simultaneous machine failures due to overrunning of machines, improper maintenance, and natural characteristics. We proposed realistic configurations with multiple machines having several flexibilities to handle the above issues. The objectives of the proposed model are to reduce simultaneous machine failures by slowing down the pace of degradation of machines, to improve the average occurrence of the first failure time of machines, and to decrease the loss of production. An approach has been developed using each machine’s degradation information to predict the machine’s residual life based on which the job adjustment strategy where machines with a lower health status will be given a high number of jobs to perform is proposed. This approach is validated by applying it in a fabric weaving industry as a real-world case study under different scenarios and the performance is compared with two other key benchmark strategies. Full article
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Article
Simulation-Based Decision Support System to Improve Material Flow of a Textile Company
Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2947; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052947 - 09 Mar 2021
Viewed by 825
Abstract
To remain competitive, companies must continuously improve the processes at hand, be they administrative, production, or logistics. The objective of the study described in this paper was to develop a decision-making tool based on a simulation model to support the production of knits [...] Read more.
To remain competitive, companies must continuously improve the processes at hand, be they administrative, production, or logistics. The objective of the study described in this paper was to develop a decision-making tool based on a simulation model to support the production of knits and damask fabrics. The tool was used to test different control strategies for material flow, from the raw material warehouse to the finished product warehouse, and thus can also be used to evaluate the impacts of these strategies on the productivity. The data upon which the decision support tool was built were collected from five sectors of the plant: the raw material warehouse, knit production, damask production, finishing work, and the finished product warehouse. The decision support tool met the objectives of the project, with all five strategies developed showing positive results. Knit and damask production rates increased by up to 8% and 44%, respectively, and a reduction of 75% was observed in the waiting time on the point of entry to the finishing work area, compared to the company’s existing system. Full article
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Article
Optimal MTS and MTO Hybrid Production System for a Single Product Under the Cap-And-Trade Environment
Sustainability 2020, 12(6), 2426; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062426 - 20 Mar 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1065
Abstract
This paper studies the optimal production planning in a hybrid Make-To-Stock (MTS) and Make-To-Order (MTO) production system for a single product under the cap-and-trade environment. The manufacturer aims to minimize the total cost in production, inventory and emissions allowances trading. The decisions include [...] Read more.
This paper studies the optimal production planning in a hybrid Make-To-Stock (MTS) and Make-To-Order (MTO) production system for a single product under the cap-and-trade environment. The manufacturer aims to minimize the total cost in production, inventory and emissions allowances trading. The decisions include the selection of production mode (pure MTS, pure MTO or hybrid MTS/MTO), the inventory and emissions trading quantity. We derive the optimal solution analytically. We show that the cost of optimal MTO/MTS hybrid production strategy is remarkably less than that of either pure MTO or pure MTS production strategy alone. Compared with the no initial carbon quota and trading environment, there are significant differences in the optimal production decisions under trading environment. When the emissions cost is a source of costs, the manufacturer has to face more costs pressure even if there is no emissions allowance trading. In particular, the results show that the initial emissions allowance determines the optimal production decision and emissions allowance trading decision in cases where the difference between the inventory cost for per unit product and the delayed delivery cost for per unit order is between the minimum and the maximum emissions cost and has no effect on production mode and emissions allowances trading decision in other cases. These conclusions will provide optimal production decision and carbon trading decision for the manufacture under a cap-and-trade environment. Full article
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Article
Malmquist Indexes of Productivity Change in Tunisian Manufacturing Industries
Sustainability 2020, 12(4), 1367; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12041367 - 13 Feb 2020
Viewed by 728
Abstract
This research aims to investigate the extent and nature of productivity growth in manufacturing industries using nonparametric frontier techniques. In order to decompose the total factor productivity (TFP) into technical efficiency change and technological change we use the output-oriented Malmquist productivity index method [...] Read more.
This research aims to investigate the extent and nature of productivity growth in manufacturing industries using nonparametric frontier techniques. In order to decompose the total factor productivity (TFP) into technical efficiency change and technological change we use the output-oriented Malmquist productivity index method for 34 Tunisian manufacturing industries over the period 2002–2016. The results indicated that TFP has witnessed an average growth of two percent over the period 2002–2016. The productivity growth identified was attributed to the improvements in the technology (or frontier-shift) rather than improvements or changes in the efficiency. Full article
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Review

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Review
Impact of Industry 4.0 on Environmental Sustainability
Sustainability 2020, 12(11), 4674; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114674 - 08 Jun 2020
Cited by 41 | Viewed by 4226
Abstract
Industry 4.0 is a concept that originated from the German industry, and whose essence is the use of technology for efficient production. In business today, the emergence of Industry 4.0 for production, and its related technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) [...] Read more.
Industry 4.0 is a concept that originated from the German industry, and whose essence is the use of technology for efficient production. In business today, the emergence of Industry 4.0 for production, and its related technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and cyber-physical systems, amongst others, have, however, a negative impact on environmental sustainability as a result of air pollution, the poor discharge of waste, and the intensive use of raw materials, information, and energy. The method used in this study is an analysis of a literature review of manuscripts discussing topics related to Industry 4.0 and environmental sustainability published between 2000 and 2020. There is currently a gap existing between the actual and the desired situation, in that production occurs in a weak sustainability model, and, therefore, this research debates the effects on environmental sustainability and the challenges facing Industry 4.0. Four scenarios are discussed: a deployment scenario, an operation scenario, integration and compliance with sustainable development goals, and a long-run scenario. The results indicate that there is a negative relationship related to the flow of the production process from the inputs to the final product, including raw materials, energy requirements, information, and waste disposal, and their impacts on the environment. However, the integration of Industry 4.0 and the sustainable development goals enhance environmental sustainability to create ecological support that guarantees high environmental performance with a more positive impact than before. This paper will help stakeholders and companies to provide solutions to the existing environmental challenges that can be mediated through adopting new technologies. The novelty of this study is its depiction of Industry 4.0 and its technologies integrated with sustainable development goals to create a sustainable Industry 4.0 combining environmental protection and sustainability. Full article
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