About this Research Topic
Sustainable Manufacturing (SM) is a trending topic in which remarkable advances have been shown in the last 30+ years. SM aims at integrating the key principles of Sustainable Development into the manufacturing industry. Ultimately, SM leads to enhanced performance from the environmental, social, and economic dimensions.
SM can be significantly supported by the digitalization technologies within the Industry 4.0 (I4.0) context. I4.0 is a socio-technical concept that involves the interaction of technological, social, and organizational aspects through the integration of digitalization technologies into production processes (e.g. Internet of Things (IoT), big data, cloud computing and cyber-physical systems (CPS), virtual reality, and cloud computing.
I4.0 has an enormous potential to enable Sustainable Manufacturing, enabling higher sustainability performance through processes’ improvement, reduced lead times and improved organizational performance. Nonetheless, there are still only few studies on I4.0 in the context of SM systems. The manufacturing industry still faces a few barriers and challenges that hinder the applications of I4.0 technologies to put SM in practice.
The goal of this Research Topic is to explore theoretical and practical models, methods, tools, and I4.0 technologies applied in SM systems. This will set future guidelines for sustainable practices in the development of products, services, and processes in the current digitalization context.
This Research Topic mainly focuses on the use of I4.0 technologies to promote SM. Information technology-based modeling, management, analysis, control, and optimization are the main areas expected to be covered by the submitted Manuscripts
Some of the subjects of interest include, but are not limited to:
• Monitoring solutions and indicators in SM.
• Digitalization of manufacturing systems in SM.
• Software tools and databases in SM.
• Real-time and/or online monitoring systems for applications in SM.
• Manufacturing indicators based on I4.0 technologies for SM applications.
• Manufacturing socio-environmental aspects and impacts.
• Selection and evaluation of I4.0 technologies.
• Case studies on implementation of the I4.0 technologies (IoT, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Virtual Reality, etc.) in practice to prevent and minimize socio-environmental impacts in SM.
• Applications of I4.0 in supply chain optimization and management
• Applications of I4.0 in product design and optimization
• Applications of I4.0 in product life extension and end-of-use management
• Applications of I4.0 in product-as-a-service business models
Keywords: Sustainable Manufacturing, Industry 4.0, Internet of Things, Cyber-Physical Systems, Big Data
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
