Strategies for assessment and implementation of sustainable manufacturing

Abstract

Manufacturing has been acknowledged for the intensive use of renewable raw materials, energy sources, and a significant contributor to pollutants causing multiple environmental issues and health hazards to the community. Sustainable manufacturing is a necessary prerequisite to conserve natural resources, mitigate the adverse impacts on environment, global economy, and society. It is important to identify and understand the implementation steps and the evaluation process for developing a sustainable manufacturing system. In this review, sustainable manufacturing has been described for better understanding of the concept. The insights about existing sustainability metrics with the inclusion of environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainability has been explored. The various sustainability indicators have been documented to provide an overview for sustainability assessment framework. In addition, the gaps in the existing sustainability metrics have been identified and the future goals for tailoring the current indicators has been explored. Thus, the study provides strategies for suitable sustainability assessment and action-plan for implementation of sustainable manufacturing.