A Systematic Literature Review on Data and Information Required for Circular Manufacturing Strategies Adoption

TLDR

Circular economy is viewed as a driver for sustainable manufacturing, yet manufacturers struggle to adopt circular manufacturing strategies because controlling material, energy, and especially information flows across the value chain remains a major barrier. This study aims to identify the information and data needed to support manufacturers’ decision‑making when adopting and managing circular manufacturing strategies. The authors conduct a systematic literature review to gather and synthesize relevant evidence. The review yields a theoretical framework outlining four key management areas and specifies the updates and upgrades manufacturers must implement to embrace circular manufacturing.

Abstract

In the extant literature, circular economy (CE) is considered a driver for sustainable development of the manufacturing sector, being it an industrial paradigm aiming at regenerating resources. CE is transferred to manufacturing companies through the adoption of different Circular Manufacturing (CM) strategies (e.g., recycling, remanufacturing, etc.). Nowadays, manufacturers are struggling to implement these strategies to limit their resource consumption and pollution generation. To enable their adoption, the extant literature unveiled the importance to control along the entire value chain different types of resource flows (i.e., material, energy, and information). Nevertheless, while for material and energy management some advancements were achieved, information management and sharing remains one of the major barriers in adopting these strategies. The present work, through a systematic literature review, aims to identify the relevant information and data required to support the manufacturer’s decision process in adopting and managing the different CM strategies to pursue the transition towards CM. Furthermore, based on the results obtained, this research proposes a theoretical framework. It elucidates the four main areas to be managed by manufacturers in adopting CM strategies and it provides to the manufacturer an overview of what should be updated and upgraded inside the company to embrace CM strategies.