Sustainable manufacturing-An overview and a conceptual framework for continuous transformation and competitiveness

Abstract

Sustainable manufacturing is advancing amidst the changing context and emerging paradigms. Business success and longterm sustainability today depends upon trans-forming continuously, and maintaining competitiveness through building context spe-cific capabilities. To address these needs, this research presented a comprehensive overview of sustainable manufacturing, in first part, contributed by numerous aspects in the field. The second part proposes a conceptual framework comprising three inter-connected elements: 'Ideal', 'Strategy', 'Architecture'. The ideal is best depicted as an exploration and choice context. Synthesis of stakeholders' desires and systematic dis-covery of opportunities, in context of larger containing systems, manifestes into desired attributes and characteristics of products, technology and enterprise system that are to be approached continuously. The strategy element is a match and transformation con-text. Strategic planning, focussed on continuous identification and building of capabili-ties, evolves into a broader concept of the business which enhances the firm's capacity to adapt to changing contexts and meet its proposed ends. The architecture is a function and execution context at the operational level. It combines capabilities, organization and operational structure, and value creation processes to perfom desired function in context of an agreed upon business concept. A systemic and potentially viable approach, embedded with specific capabilities to integrate sustainability into the core of a manu-facturing business, is thus proposed which sets this research work apart. Contextual interrogation gives it a new way of constructing the big picture of the issue, i.e. sustain-able manufacturing. This simplistic scheme is supplemented and guided by multi-aspect research in sustainable manufacturing, circular economy, capabilities, strategy and transformation, and systems thinking. The proposed framework is expected to fulfill the key needs of enterprises in sustainable manufacturing business, i.e. to transform and maintain competitiveness in a fast paced environment.