Sustainable Manufacturing Overview

Principles

Definition

Sustainable manufacturing is an academic concept and methodological approach focused on the design, production, and management of manufactured goods to minimize negative environmental impacts while conserving resources, ensuring social equity, and maintaining economic viability. As a research field, it investigates strategies for resource efficiency, waste reduction, pollution prevention, and lifecycle assessment aimed at achieving long-term ecological and economic prosperity throughout the entire product lifecycle.

Ontological type

Core Methods

Lifecycle Assessment

Performance Metrics

Key developments

Key Figures

Circular Design and Remanufacturing era

Carlo Vezzoli [1] is associated with Politecnico di Milano [3] during the Circular Design and Remanufacturing era (2002–2008). His key contributions in this era are exemplified by the 2003 paper "A strategic design approach to develop sustainable product service systems: examples taken from the environmental prize" [4], which outlines a strategic design approach to sustainable product-service systems and emphasizes modularity, lifecycle thinking, and the integration of design for remanufacturing into product architectures. Ezio Manzini [2], also linked to Politecnico di Milano [3], contributed to the same discourse in the 2003 paper, advocating eco-design, service-oriented models, and design-for-remanufacturing concepts that broaden design for circularity [4]. These contributions helped embed circular principles into manufacturing strategy by promoting material retention, modularity, disassembly, and product-service systems as central design objectives during this era [4].

Lifecycle-Integrated Lean Manufacturing era

Christoph Herrmann [1] is a prominent figure in sustainable manufacturing during the Lifecycle-Integrated Lean Manufacturing era (2009-2015), with affiliations at UNSW Sydney [3] and University of St Andrews [4]. Herrmann [1]’s 2012 paper Towards energy and resource efficient manufacturing: A processes and systems approach [7] presents a processes-and-systems lens that couples energy and resource efficiency with lean waste reduction, enabling energy-aware lean manufacturing and lifecycle integration that were pivotal for the era. Michael Zwicky Hauschild [2] is a central figure in lifecycle thinking associated with Radboud University Nijmegen [5] and the Technical University of Denmark [6] during this era. Hauschild [2]’s contributions in the same 2012 paper [7] emphasize integrating life cycle assessment with energy- and resource-efficient manufacturing, enabling cross-level optimization and governance metrics that translate operational improvements into quantified lifecycle gains for the era.

Sustainable Industry 4.0 era

Mélanie Despeisse [1] is a researcher associated with the University of Cambridge [3] and Chalmers University of Technology [4] during the Sustainable Industry 4.0 era. Her work Additive manufacturing and sustainability: an exploratory study of the advantages and challenges [7] investigates how additive manufacturing can advance sustainability, highlighting advantages and challenges that shaped early understanding of digital fabrication for resource efficiency and circular strategies in industry. Julian M. Müller [2] is affiliated with Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg [5] and the University of Brescia [6] during this era. His papers What Drives the Implementation of Industry 4.0? The Role of Opportunities and Challenges in the Context of Sustainability [8], Development of a Risk Framework for Industry 4.0 in the Context of Sustainability for Established Manufacturers [9], and Sustainable Industrial Value Creation in SMEs: A Comparison between Industry 4.0 and Made in China 2025 [10] collectively advance understanding of adoption drivers, risk governance, and SME value creation in Industry 4.0, offering frameworks and evidence that support sustainable, circular transition in manufacturing.