Frontier of Sustainable Manufacturing: Production Systems, Supply Chain Network Design and Maintenance

Dear Colleagues,

Currently, sustainability issues influence the development of new paradigms, models, and decision support systems in manufacturing, including supply chain network design and production systems management (including maintenance aspects). Considering the environmental impact is not only an increasing trend but also mandatory. During the recent G20 summit (October 2021), the need to invest and support sustainable strategies and projects was stressed, i.e., in the future, the focus will be “the implementation of Nature-based Solutions or Ecosystem-based Approaches as valuable tools providing economic, social, climate and environmental benefits” [1]. Governments have already started to set targets for energy efficiency, in order to provide invectives for using renewable energy, to support sustainable and green projects with funds, and also to deter the use of non-eco-friendly materials (for example through a plastic tax). In reaction to this global trend, companies are interested in including sustainability in their business in different ways. Green supply chain management has been recently defined as the integration of environmental thinking into supply chain management, including product design, material sourcing and selection, manufacturing processes, delivery of the final product to the consumers, and end-of-life management of products [2]. There are a lot of opportunities for re-thinking business to include sustainable aspects—e.g., the use of renewable energy, the reduction of energy consumption, the decrease of carbon footprint emission, the use of eco-friendly materials, etc.—that can be applied in a different part of the supply chain, including maintenance processes. Moreover, circular systems promote material reuse, recovery, and recycling to realize a closed-loop system and to reduce pollution and carbon emissions. Specifically, a circular system builds economic, natural, and social value through the transition to renewable energy sources, surpassing the “take-make-dispose” extractive industrial model of linear economy-based systems [3]. The circular economy model regenerates natural systems by keeping materials and products in use and designing waste and pollution out of the system. Consequently, a circular economy-based system allows for higher resource productivity because products, equipment, and infrastructure are in use for longer [4].

This Special Issue aims to collect and present research in the field of manufacturing systems and supply chain network designs regarding the integration of sustainability, with special attention to companies’ opportunities in terms of costs, efficiency, and environmental impact. It seeks to attract high-quality state-of-the-art studies that examine actual changes driven by sustainability integration in manufacturing and supply chain network design, but also new studies regarding new opportunities in this context.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Parameters, tools, and models for green supply chain network design;
• Green warehousing strategies and new technologies;
• The impact of including environmental aspects in companies’ operations;
• Sustainability through maintenance actions, improvement activities, and green tools;
• Energy consumption reduction in the supply chain;
• Carbon emission footprint in the supply chain;
• Returned product cycle: paradigm and models to reduce waste;
• The development of a managerial approach that incorporates sustainable practices into the companies’ strategies;
• Re-thinking manufacturing systems in order to use eco-friendly materials;
• Circular economy models for industrial systems.

References

1. Available online: https://www.g20.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/G20-ROME-LEADERS-DECLARATION.pdf
2. Srivastava, Samir K. Green supply‐chain management: a state‐of‐the‐art literature review. J. Manag. Rev., 2007, 9, 53–80.
3. Macarthur, E. Towards the circular economy - Economic and Business Rationale for an Accelerated Transition; Ellen Macarthur Foundation: Cowes, UK, 2020.
4. Invernizzi, D.C.; Locatelli, G.; Velenturf, A.; Love, P.E.; Purnell, P.; Brookes, N.J. Developing policies for the end-of-life of energy infrastructure: Coming to terms with the challenges of decommissioning. Energy Policy, 2020, 144, 111677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111677.

Dr. Ilenia Zennaro
Dr. Lucia Botti
Dr. Simone Arena
Dr. Francesco Gabriele Galizia
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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.

• manufacturing systems
• green supply chain management
• carbon emission footprint
• sustainable circular economy
• re-manufacturing cycle
• green maintenance