Social Implications of Introducing Innovative Technology into a Product-Service System: The Case of a Waste-Grading Machine in Electronic Waste Management

This paper examines the social implications of introducing a new technology into the product-service system (PSS) of electronic waste management (EWM). Using a previously established set of social sustainability key performance indicators (KPIs) targeting the operations level (i.e. impacts on EWM operators), social implications are examined in a case where a specific innovative new technology is introduced to replace manual sorting of e-waste into re-use, refurbish and recycle fractions. The social sustainability KPIs were applied to the case as a structured interview guide. The results showed that the KPI framework provided a good basis for examining the social impacts and also stimulated discussions about potential business impacts based on the human resources in the system. The framework showed that the implementation supported proactive social sustainability, but some additional conditions need to be addressed by the customer organization to make sure that potential risks (identified in the interview) are mitigated

An Assessment Framework for Managing Corporate Sustainable Manufacturing

This research aims to support the manufacturing industry in the endeavour of achieving the seventeen sustainable development goals by 2030, with “sustainable production” (the 12th goal) being the key one it should achieve. The output of this research is synthesised into a framework comprising assessment methods and tools which translate both economic and environmental sustainability factors into information for a specific set of company management decisions. These decisions are supported by the three guiding functions of the framework: 1) alignment between sustainability strategy and operations through the definition of core organisational capabilities, 2) assessment of the environmental impacts of R&D technology for production systems, and 3) improvement of the sustainability performance of existing production systems’ operations. Thus, the framework encompasses sustainability assessment methods and tools from a low level of analysis (machine tool) to a higher one (organisational). For the first function, an organisational “sustainability readiness” tool was developed with six companies. For the second function, an indicator for environmental break-even analysis of R&D technologies aims to pre-emptively minimise any undesired backfire effects. For the third function, an energy-based version of the known overall equipment effectiveness indicator diagnoses energy inefficiencies in production. By highlighting a red thread between the three functions and by providing assessment solutions in each of them, the proposed assessment framework aims to support management in their task to measure sustainable manufacturing. The use of the framework would also mitigate the strategy-operations misalignment that sometimes affects corporate sustainability management. The overall qualitative nature of the framework makes it suitable to be considered by industrialists and academia as a conveyer of a mindset which leverages management’s capacity to improve sustainability performance. Unfortunately, the validity of this statement could not be tested. What has been validated to various extents though are the methods and tools within the framework itself. The author suggests that future research would enable manufacturing companies to quantify the long-term sustainability impacts of product life cycles and production systems. If this could be encouraged, it would help to focus on eco-effectiveness performance, perhaps by taking an approach similar to Science Based Targets. Interventions such as these can contribute to a safer future that remains environmentally accountable at all levels of business operations

Prerequisites for a high-level framework to design sustainable plants in the e-waste supply chain

Currently few attempts to properly structure knowledge that specifically supports a fully sustainable e-waste treatment system design have been proposed in literature. As a result, this paper sets up the prerequisites for a high-level framework to design sustainable plants in the supply chain of e-waste. The framework addresses production and environmental engineers mainly. The methodology grows out of literature studies, research project’s outcomes and interviews with a group of sector experts. Stemming from this, a list of prerequisites was presented for the case study of an automated plant for e-waste sorting in order to design it while considering the triple-bottom-line of sustainability

Organisational sustainability readiness: a model and assessment tool for manufacturing companies

Manufacturing plays a major role in the economic and social development of society, yet this often comes at a high environmental cost. Despite great advances in our understanding of sustainability issues and solutions developed to tackle this challenge, current production and consumption models are still largely unsustainable. Strong industrial actions are required to move towards safer and cleaner practices respectful of the planetary boundaries. This paper puts forward a novel approach for top and middle management in manufacturing companies to build capabilities for sustainable manufacturing by assessing their organisational sustainability readiness. The proposed model and tool for organisational sustainability readiness were developed based on themes emerging from empirical data collected via interviews and focus groups in six companies. The resulting themes were consolidated and validated with relevant literature to create four levels of readiness, displaying a crescendo of operations management practices on the shop floor that positively affect sustainability performance. Finally, an industrial application was used to further validate the tool and demonstrate how it can help companies develop a roadmap for a more sustainable manufacturing industry

Understanding sustainability data through unit manufacturing process representations: a case study on stone production

Efficiency of natural stone production processes in quarries directly affects the economic output and environmental performances, such as production lead times and energy consumptions. Knowledge on stone production processes is crucial in making responsible decisions in this business. Having a structured representation of information characterizing the stone production processes will support stakeholders in better assessing production resources in terms of sustainability and productivity. Value stream mapping can provide an overview and guidance for sustainability performance evaluation, but its application is limited. The challenges arise when trying to specifically map and relate sustainability data between processes e.g., variability in lead time and CO2 emissions. Manufacturing process characterization standards currently being developed by ASTM International manifest the potential to not only fill this gap but also to provide opportunities to characterize and compose manufacturing processes with relevant environmental information and description. This paper shows the application and lessons learned from deploying once such effort towards standardization

The Proposal of an Environmental Break-Even Point as Assessment Method of Product-Service Systems for Circular Economy

In this paper we propose a method to assess technology-based product-service systems and help manufacturing companies in decision making with a new indicator: the environmental break-even point (e-BEP), equivalent to the economic indicator applied to environmental performance. A case study is presented to provide a concrete application of the indicator: when designing an optical sorter for electronic waste, the e-BEP revealed how many mobile phones must be either repurposed or recycled for the sorter to offset the system’s environmental impact. The e-BEP shows potential to make CEOs and production managers adopt a product life-cycle thinking in their technology investments

A Methodology to Align Core Manufacturing Capabilities with Sustainable Manufacturing Strategies

How do core business and manufacturing capabilities enable strategies for sustainable manufacturing, and what are those capabilities? This paper proposes a Capability Methodology for Sustainable Manufacturing (CMSM) for allowing top management of manufacturing companies to address these questions. A diagnostic tool was developed from three case studies based on a set of interview questions aimed at identifying core capabilities and sustainability issues in manufacturing companies. Interview data was coded and mapped through a relational matrix formulation that describes four archetypes for the development of sustainability strategies. The matrix maps the degree of complexity of the sustainability concept as understood by the company, and the scope of the product life cycle being considered. It is argued that the methodology helps bring awareness to managers of any gaps or mismatches between their actual core capabilities and the desired outcomes for sustainable manufacturing

A framework for operative and social sustainability functionalities in Human- Centric Cyber-Physical Production Systems

In a near future where manufacturing companies are faced with the rapid technological developments of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and Industry 4.0, a need arises to consider how this will affect human operators remaining as a vital and important resource in modern production systems. What will the implications of these orchestrated and ubiquitous technologies in production – a concept we call Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) – be on the health, learning and operative performance of human workers? This paper makes three main contributions to address the question. First, it synthesizes the diverse literature regarding CPS and social sustainability in production systems. Second, it conceptualizes a holistic framework, the CyFL Matrix, and outlines a guideline to analyze how the functionalities of a CPPS relate to operational and social sustainability-related performance impacts at different levels of analysis. Finally, it presents an industrial use case, which the CyFL Matrix and the related guidelines are applied to. In doing so, the study offers first support to researchers and managers of manufacturing companies willing to define suitable operational and social sustainability-related performances for Human-centric Cyber-Physical Production Systems of the future