Ways to Circular and Transparent Value Chains

The purpose of this paper is to increase the knowledge about the implementation of circularity and other sustainability approaches in value chains. The objective is to develop roadmaps for the implementation of digital Circular manufacturing (CMA) and Social-life cycle (S-LCA) assessments in Textile and Clothing (TC) value chains. Implementing these digital assessments in TC value chains can increase their transparency, by validating that product manufacturing safeguards worker wellbeing and the environment. TC is one of the sectors with most critical social and environmental impacts. The roadmaps were developed through a Design Science methodology, combining: i) case studies to understand the practical problem, ii) literature study on CMA and S-LCA to develop the roadmaps, and iii) action research to iteratively apply the roadmaps to the cases and refine them with participants in an EU project, representing the entire TC value chain. The EU project is developing digital sustainability assessments with Blockchain functionality for increased data trustworthiness. This study aims to contribute to theory, practice, and public policies by providing a validated overview of the status, barriers, goals, and systematic activities for the implementation of CMA and S-LCA in TC value chains and for increased sustainability.publishedVersio

A global survey on the current state of practice in Zero Defect Manufacturing and its impact on production performance

To be competitive in dynamic and global markets, manufacturing companies are continuously seeking to apply innovative production strategies and methods combined with advanced digital technologies to improve their flexibility, productivity, quality, environmental impact, and cost performance. Zero Defect Manufacturing is a disruptive concept providing production strategies and methods with underlying advanced digital technologies to fill the gap. While scientific knowledge within this area has increased exponentially, the current practices and impact of Zero Defect Manufacturing on companies over time are still unknown. Therefore, this survey aims to map the current state of practice in Zero Defect Manufacturing and identify its impact on production performance. The results show that although Zero Defect Manufacturing strategies and methods are widely applied and can have a strong positive impact on production performance, this has not always been the case. The findings also indicate that digital technologies are increasingly used, however, the potential of artificial intelligence and extended reality is still less exploited. We contribute to theory by detailing the research needs of Zero Defect Manufacturing from the practitioner’s perspective and suggesting actions to enhance Zero Defect Manufacturing strategies and methods. Further, we provide practical and managerial suggestions to improve production performances and move towards sustainable development and zero waste.publishedVersio

A Cross-disciplinary, cross-organizational approach to sustainable design and product innovation in the aluminum industry

Aluminum is a promising sustainable and industrial resource that provides strong, lightweight structures with complex geometric possibilities, a high recovery rate in the recycling process, and low-emission production when produced by hydropower. Design and product innovations are enabling aluminum to increasingly replace steel in many industrial sectors (such as construction, automotive, and furniture), improving environmental (e.g., reduction of CO2 emission in transport) and financial (e.g., increased circularity and value creation) performance. However, key knowledge of the aluminum value chain is concentrated among the different actors. For instance, downstream actors possess a high level of technical expertise in the metallurgical properties and processing of aluminum, and they are typically situated a long distance from the end market or end user are unaware of the end user’s current and future needs. Investments in and investigations of new aluminum alloys, treatments, and machines are accompanied by high financial and time risks. Cross-disciplinary, cross-organizational collaborations might facilitate design and product innovations, including value creation and sustainability aspects and reducing financial and time risks. There is limited literature on how the different actors in the aluminum value chain should collaborate and which methods they should apply to increase sustainable design and product innovation. Therefore, this study applies a multiple case research approach to identify the benefits, enablers, and barriers of sustainable design and product innovation. Based on the findings, a sustainable design and product innovation framework was developed, highlighting actors, collaboration, and methods applied at different innovation project stages. The introduced approach supports the actors in the aluminum value chain to efficiently introduce sustainable design and product innovations to new and existing markets.publishedVersio

Material Distribution and Transportation in a Norwegian Hospital:A Case Study

Automated Guided Vehicles have shown significant importance in material transportation and distribution in today’s hospitals. The increasing trends of shorter hospital stays and increase of treatments and surgeries in clinics, present new challenges for the supply of goods. The rise in patients in hospitals, and consequently the increase of treatments and surgeries, cause a growth of material usage and goods movement. This study used the Control Model methodology to analyze the material and information flow within the case hospital. Information sharing and integration is still a major issue in the case hospital. The study aims to stimulate further research in material handling and distribution in hospitals

Planning and control of autonomous mobile robots for intralogistics: Literature review and research agenda

Autonomous mobile robots (AMR) are currently being introduced in many intralogistics operations, like manufacturing, warehousing, cross-docks, terminals, and hospitals. Their advanced hardware and control software allow autonomous operations in dynamic environments. Compared to an automated guided vehicle (AGV) system in which a central unit takes control of scheduling, routing, and dispatching decisions for all AGVs, AMRs can communicate and negotiate independently with other resources like machines and systems and thus decentralize the decision-making process. Decentralized decision-making allows the system to react dynamically to changes in the system state and environment. These developments have influenced the traditional methods and decision-making processes for planning and control. This study identifies and classifies research related to the planning and control of AMRs in intralogistics. We provide an extended literature review that highlights how AMR technological advances affect planning and control decisions. We contribute to the literature by introducing an AMR planning and control framework t

Possibilities and Benefits of Using Material Flow Information to Improve the Internal Hospital Supply Chain

The concept of Supply Chain Management has become increasingly important in healthcare and notably in hospitals. Information along the supply chain is the key element for analysis and improvement purposes. The aim of the study is to analyze and visualize the material flow at a Norwegian hospital to identify the possibilities and benefits in current and future planning and operation. The integration of IT enables combining material and information flow. Statically analyses of the material flow can support in planning and control of the logistics activities. The visualization of the material flow can support to take long-term decisions e.g. for distributing departments at the hospital

A Survey on Current Practices, Strategies and Research Needs for Circular Manufacturing of Plastics

Advances in manufacturing technology made plastics comparatively inexpensive, light, mouldable and durable. The great success of plastics comes along with a strong negative environmental impact and their accumulation in landfills and leakage into the natural environment is now recognized as a global environmental crisis. The circular economy approach to plastics provides a feasible solution to the prevailing linear system and aims to raise the proportion of plastic that is reused or recycled back into the system. The transition towards a circular economy, cannot be achieved solely through changes within the waste-handling system but must be combined with changes in other parts of the value chain, including the design, the manufacturing, etc. Plastic manufacturing companies need support in the transition. Therefore, this study aims to provide knowledge to plastics companies to move from linear towards circular manufacturing processes. We conduct a systematic literature review examining current practices and research needs in circularity within the plastics industry. This study contributes to the literature by mapping circularity strategies in plastics, explaining innovative circular plastic materials, and highlighting current circular manufacturing technologies such as additive manufacturing and the chemical transformation of waste plastics into various value-added chemical feedstocks, which can replace petrochemicals. Additionally, circular pathways are illustrated to support practitioners in identifying their current position in the value chain and understanding pathways to increase circularity. One of the key conclusions is that circular plastic value chains are still deficient in the implementation of R-strategies (such as rethinking, reducing, reusing, etc.) besides recycling.acceptedVersio

The Data-Driven Process Improvement Cycle: Using Digitalization for Continuous Improvement

Industry 4.0 is the first industrial revolution to be announced a priori, and there is thus a significant ambiguity surrounding the term and what it actually entails. This paper aims to clearly define digitalization, a key enabler of Industry 4.0, and illustrate how it can be used for improvement through proposing an improvement cycle and an associated digitalization typology. These tools can be used by organizations to guide improvement processes, focusing on the new possibilities introduced by the enormous amounts of data currently available. The usage of the tools is illustrated by presenting four scenarios from Kanban control, where each scenario is mapped according to their digitalization level

Digital Facility Layout Planning

In recent years, companies have increased their focus on sustainability to achieve environmental-friendly improvements, to manage pressures from society and regulations, and to attract customers that appreciate sustainability efforts. While companies have mainly aimed short-term/operational improvements, long-term improvements are difficult to reach. One of the fundamental, strategical decision-making processes for a company is facility layout planning. The layout of a facility can have a significant impact on daily operations. Aiming for the goal of sustainability, a dynamic layout decision-making process can support in achieving it. However, the technologies used currently enable only the design of a static layout due to the time-consuming operations involved. In this paper, the introduction of emerging technologies such as 3D mapping, Indoor Positioning System (IPS), Motion Capture System (MoCap), and Immersive Reality (IR) for dynamic layout planning are assessed and discussed. The results obtained clearly demonstrate that the usage of these technologies favor a reconfigurable layout, positively affecting all the three pillars constituting the sustainability concept: the costs involved are reduced, social aspects are improved, and the environment is safeguarded