Sustainable Productivity: A New Understanding of Productivity for Sustainable Production

Dear Colleagues,

In the last century, our society has made remarkable achievements. The accomplishments of the industrial revolutions have led to enormous efficiency in production. Everyday products in the fields of electronics and transport are produced so cost-effectively that they can be made available to the entire population. Manufacturing has thus made a major contribution to the prosperity of our society. At the same time, however, society has also been able to acquire a sometimes frighteningly low level of utilization of the objects produced. For example, the average utilization rate of a passenger car is just 4%. A large proportion of consumer and electronic goods are disposed of after a short period of use, which efficient production makes possible. The continuous striving for greater production and increasing efficiency have led to a capital- and resource-intensive approach to productivity. This is evident from the continuous increase in CO₂ emissions, which have almost doubled since 1990.

The social and environmental impacts of this development have become increasingly apparent in recent years. The intensifying climate crisis, in particular, has led to a shift in capital- and resource-intensive productivity thinking away from the future image of a more ecologically aware society. As one of the major polluters, the manufacturing industry has a major responsibility here. Industry must initiate a sustainable production turnaround as soon as possible.

As a result, the concept of productivity must be fundamentally reconsidered to include a holistic view of sustainability. Whereas in the past the focus was mainly on financial goals, in the future, ecological, social, and regulatory goals must be foremost for manufacturing companies. These novel goals require far-reaching adjustments to be made in product development, production methods, and product use. Within the framework of the circular economy, products must be transformed into re-usable items that meet certain requirements in order to increase resource efficiency in the long term. This is made possible by digitization and, in particular, the Internet of Production, which provides the transparency necessary for a holistic increase in sustainability. In addition to the necessity associated with responsibility, production turnaround represents an enormous opportunity for the future-oriented alignment of the manufacturing industry.

This Special Issue seeks to bring together papers that enhance the further development of manufacturers’ value chains to improve and ensure industrial sustainability with respect to each of its four dimensions (economic/financial, environmental, social, governance).

Prof. Dr. Günther Schuh
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Boos
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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.

• sustainability
• sustainable productivity
• sustainable manufacturing
• sustainability assessment and performance
• FESG
• circular economy
• CO2 reduction
• production engineering
• industry 4.0
• internet of production
• digitalization