Driving Manufacturing Companies toward Industry 5.0: A Strategic Framework for Process Technological Sustainability Assessment (P-TSA)

This study explores the complex nexus between technological innovation, Industry 4.0's transformative paradigm, and the emerging concept of Industry 5.0, highlighting the critical role of integrating sustainability into factories to enhance organizational competitiveness. In this context, confusion arises between the terms "sustainable technologies" and "technological sustainability" due to two factors: the misuse of the terms as synonyms and the misattribution of conceptual meaning to each term. To clarify this ambiguity, this study validates a conceptual framework for technological sustainability by examining the processes of a ceramic manufacturing company. This assessment highlights the potential of technological sustainability and its associated measurement model to facilitate the transition from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0. This research provides fundamental insights into technological sustainability and serves as a guide for future empirical efforts aimed at achieving a balanced and sustainable integration of technology into manufacturing practices

Life cycle assessment of a ceramic tiles manufacturing: strategies for circular economy

In 2015, the Italian ceramic tile industry ranked in fourth place among the world's leading tile manufacturers, with 394,8 million sqm beyond 1735 million sqm of the global production. Although the manufacturing process is rather standardised in its macro-phases, the current attention to the environmental protection and human health requires the need for continuous research and innovation, in order to provide added value in terms of both product quality and process quality. In this framework, the present study, carried out under the European project LIFE16 ENV/IT/000307 - Force of the Future, aims to reduce the environmental impact of the production cycle by implementing the circular economy approach through the reuse of fired scraps and the increased use of local raw materials that affects the relative supply chain. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis was carried out with a “cradle to the grave” approach, in order to evaluate the environmental impacts related to the total annual production of a leading company in the ceramic sector. The functional unit was represented by the annual production of the ceramic tiles. The LCA study was performed using the SimaPro 8.3 software and the IMPACT2002+ assessment method. Primary data were collected directly from the company while the background processes were modelled using Ecoinvent v3 database and literature. The environmental impact of the supply of 1 kg of ceramic mixture was evaluated, considering the traditional ceramic production of the 2015 and the improved scenario related to the 2016. LCA results indicate that the modified scenario, in which there is the 50% of local raw materials, the 30% of raw materials carried by train, and the 3% of fired scraps reused, produces a reduction of the environmental impact in all the impact categories. In addition, for the purpose of investigate all the dimensions of the sustainability, also the economic aspects and social issues will be evaluated, respectively through the LCC and the S-LCA analysis, by identifying and mapping the stakeholders

Social life-cycle assessment: A review by bibliometric analysis

This study examined the literature on social life-cycle assessment (S-LCA) published in the last 15 years (2003–2018) using bibliometric methods. Applying scientific mapping and analyzing publication performance, the study describes the structure of and trends in S-LCA publications in terms of related subject categories, authors, journals, countries, and highly cited articles. Challenges and research gaps in the S-LCA literature were also explored. The content of related papers published in the ISIWeb of Science databases was examined to identify the main themes investigated, evolution of publication activity, and most representative elements. Analyses were conducted with SciMAT software. This tool enables researchers to map research specialties by extracting qualitative information in the specialized literature and representing it using quantitative measures. The results show rapid and exponential growth of the S-LCA research line in the past ten years, with a clear upward trend in related publications (mostly case studies), especially after publication of the UNEP/SETAC Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of Products in 2009: 66% of all articles published on S-LCA were published during the period 2015–2018, primarily by European authors. The findings also delineate S-LCA as a highly fragmented research field that has been applied to diverse sectors (agriculture, bioenergy, transport, water management, chemical products, electronics, etc.), mainly in non-European countries. Critical questions concerning methods, framework, paradigms, and indicators remain to be resolved. This study provides insight into the publication performance of S-LCA, characterizing its intellectual structure and salient authors and works. In identifying hotspots in the S-LCA research, the study provides a useful state-of-the-art reference guide for academics and reveals critical research gaps and potential research avenues for future studies to advance in consolidating the discipline.This study examined the literature on social life-cycle assessment (S-LCA) published in the last 15 years (2003-2018) using bibliometric methods. Applying scientific mapping and analyzing publication performance, the study describes the structure of and trends in S-LCA publications in terms of related subject categories, authors, journals, countries, and highly cited articles. Challenges and research gaps in the S-LCA literature were also explored. The content of related papers published in the ISI Web of Science databases was examined to identify the main themes investigated, evolution of publication activity, and most representative elements. Analyses were conducted with SciMAT software. This tool enables researchers to map research specialties by extracting qualitative information in the specialized literature and representing it using quantitative measures. The results show rapid and exponential growth of the S-LCA research line in the past ten years, with a clear upward trend in related publications (mostly case studies), especially after publication of the UNEP/SETAC Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of Products in 2009: 66% of all articles published on S-LCA were published during the period 2015-2018, primarily by European authors. The findings also delineate S-LCA as a highly fragmented research field that has been applied to diverse sectors (agriculture, bioenergy, transport, water management, chemical products, electronics, etc.), mainly in non-European countries. Critical questions concerning methods, framework, paradigms, and indicators remain to be resolved. This study provides insight into the publication performance of S-LCA, characterizing its intellectual structure and salient authors and works. In identifying hotspots in the S-LCA research, the study provides a useful state-of-the-art reference guide for academics and reveals critical research gaps and potential research avenues for future studies to advance in consolidating the discipline

Main dimensions in the building of the circular supply chain: A literature review

Circular economy is an alternative to the traditional production model and has therefore attracted a great deal of attention fromresearchers. The change in the production system is accompanied by new logistical needs related both to resources and waste and to the distribution and recovery of products. The circular supply chain involves return processes and the manufacturer intends to capture additional value in the supply chain. In this paper, value chains have been mapped to visualize the links and interactions between the different stages and actors to understand the complexities of these systems and to make informed decisions. For this reason, and based on thorough literature review, the final objective of this work is to achieve a conceptual framework to study circular supply chain, which uses the main theoretical perspectives in strategic management literature. Four dimensions have been identified to support the development of these new supply chains-greater intensity in the relationships established in the supply chain, adaptation of logistics and organizational, disruptive and smart technologies, and a functioning environment. It can be concluded that to develop a new relationship capacity will allow for reaching more frequent, closer relationships with more actors. These relationships will be developed within an adapted organizational and logistical framework that is framed in new business model archetypes. However, dimensions related to the business environment such as sectoral, legislative, and fiscal frameworks must be incorporated

Industry 4.0 and smart data as enablers of the circular economy in manufacturing: Product re-engineering with circular eco-design

The digital transformation of manufacturing firms, in addition to making operations more efficient, offers important opportunities both to promote the transition to a circular economy and to experiment with new techniques for designing smarter and greener products. This study integrates Industry 4.0 technologies, smart data, Life Cycle Assessment methodology, and material microstructural analysis techniques to develop and apply a circular eco-design model that has been implemented in the Italian ceramic tile manufacturing industry. The model has been initially adopted in a simulation environment to define five different scenarios of raw material supply, alternative to the current production one. The scenarios were then validated operationally at laboratory scale and in a pilot environment, demonstrating that a proper selection of raw material transport systems significantly improves the environmental performance of the ceramic product. Both the results of the laboratory tests and of the pre-industrial experiments have demonstrated the technological feasibility of the solutions identified with circular eco-design, enabling the re-engineering of the ceramic product as the fifth of the 6Rs of the circular economy. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Growing e-waste management risk awareness points towards new recycling scenarios: The view of the Big Four's youngest consultants

The e-waste sector is characterised by a rapid growth at global level and therefore involves an area not yet sufficiently investigated in its risk management dimension. This research fills the gap of the absence of a holistic approach to risk identification and assessment in e-waste management, suggesting a new Risk Awareness Indicator (RAI). An integrated Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA)-Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is proposed to calculate the new index. Weights and values will be proposed by twenty Big Four's youngest consultants (generation-Z and millennials). For e-waste, cyber risks related to personal data are critical in the collection phase, environmental risks in the transport phase, and financial and economic risks in the processing phase. Recycling scenarios pose less overall risk than landfill alternatives. The results can help policy makers to meet the circular economy targets set at the European Union level by implementing administrative and regulatory simplifications to support recycling supply chains and make them more efficient and resilient after the pandemic disruption. This work focuses on e-waste and the opinion of screenagers consultants, however the methodology used to design the RAI index makes it easy to replicate the analysis to other social settings and other waste supply chains

Industry 4.0 real-world testing of dynamic organizational life cycle assessment (O-LCA) of a ceramic tile manufacturer

In manufacturing, Industry 4.0 operating models enable greener technologies. Thanks to digital technologies, environmental sustainability and organizational competitiveness are mutually reinforcing. The challenge for manufacturing organizations is to understand and quantify the magnitude of this synergistic action, and the holistic perspective of life cycle assessment tools may be a solution to the problem. Organizational Life Cycle Assessment (O-LCA) unlike Product Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is still an under-researched methodology with few applications in manufacturing contexts. This paper aims to fill this gap by implementing and validating O-LCA in the case of an Italian ceramic tile manufacturer. Following the O-LCA guidelines and exploiting Industry 4.0 technologies to perform the inventory analysis, the environmental assessment was conducted in three different plants, comparing the sum of the partial impact results with the overall results scaled to the whole organization. The experimental results demonstrated the validity of the organizational approach as an appropriate methodological option to obtain relevant information on environmental performance that, being based on empirical evidence, better support decision-making processes. Furthermore, the study provides empirical evidence of how Industry 4.0 is an enabler not only for the adoption of greener technologies, but especially for facilitating the organizational environmental impact assessment that is the necessary condition in order to set up and maintain greener manufacturing contexts

Technological Sustainability or Sustainable Technology? A Multidimensional Vision of Sustainability in Manufacturing

The topic of sustainability is becoming one of the strongest drivers of change in the market- place by transforming into an element of competitiveness and an integral part of business strategy. Particularly in the manufacturing sector, a key role is played by technological innovations that allow companies to minimize the impact of their business on the environment and contribute to enhancing the value of the societies in which they operate. Technological process can be a lever to generate sustainable behaviors, confirming how innovation and sustainability constitute an increasingly close pair. However, it emerges that the nature of this relationship is explored by researchers and con- sidered by practitioners almost exclusively in terms of the degree of sustainability of technological solutions. Lacking is an in-depth exploration of how a product or process, in addition to being environmentally and socio-economically sustainable, must or can also be technologically sustainable. This research therefore aims to build a theoretical foundation for technological sustainability seen as a possible fourth dimension of sustainable development

The Paradigms of Industry 4.0 and Circular Economy as Enabling Drivers for the Competitiveness of Businesses and Territories: The Case of an Italian Ceramic Tiles Manufacturing Company

Sustainable development and the circular economy are two important issues for the future and the competitiveness of businesses. The programs for the integration of sustainability into industrial activities include the reconfiguration of production processes with a view to reducing their impact on the natural system, the development of new eco-sustainable products and the redesign of the business model. This paradigm shift requires the participation and commitment of different stakeholder groups and industry can completely redesign supply chains, aiming at resource efficiency and circularity. Developments in key ICT technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), help this systemic transition. This paper explores the phases of the transition from a linear to a circular economy and proposes a procedure for introducing the principles of sustainability (environmental, economic and social) in a manufacturing environment, through the design of a new Circular Business Model (CBM). The new procedure has been tested and validated in an Italian company producing ceramic tiles, using the digitalization of the production processes of the Industry 4.0 environment, to implement the impact assessment tools (LCA\u2014Life Cycle Assessment, LCC\u2014Life Cycle Costing and S-LCA\u2014Social Life Cycle Assessment) and the business intelligence systems to provide appropriate sustainability performance indicators essential for the definition of the new CBM