Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how rising technologies from Industry 4.0 can be integrated with circular economy (CE) practices to establish a business model that reuses and recycles wasted material such as scrap metal or e-waste. Design/methodology/approach The qualitative research method was deployed in three stages. Stage 1 was a literature review of concepts, successful factors and barriers related to the transition towards a CE along with sustainable supply chain management, smart production systems and additive manufacturing (AM). Stage 2 comprised a conceptual framework to integrate and evaluate the synergistic potential among these concepts. Finally, stage 3 validated the proposed model by collecting rich qualitative data based on semi-structured interviews with managers, researchers and professors of operations management to gather insightful and relevant information. Findings The outcome of the study is the recommendation of a circular model to reuse scrap electronic devices, integrating web technologies, reverse logistics and AM to support CE practices. Results suggest a positive influence from improving business sustainability by reinserting waste into the supply chain to manufacture products on demand. Research limitations/implications The impact of reusing wasted materials to manufacture new products is relevant to minimising resource consumption and negative environmental impacts. Furthermore, it avoids hazardous materials ending up in landfills or in the oceans, seriously threatening life in ecosystems. In addition, reuse of wasted material enables the development of local business networks that generate jobs and improve economic performance. Practical implications First, the impact of reusing materials to manufacture new products minimises resource consumption and negative environmental impacts. The circular model also encourages keeping hazardous materials that seriously threaten life in ecosystems out of landfills and oceans. For this study, it was found that most urban waste is plastic and cast iron, leaving room for improvement in increasing recycling of scrap metal and similar materials. Second, the circular business model promotes a culture of reusing and recycling and motivates the development of collection and processing techniques for urban waste through the use of three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies and Industry 4.0. In this way, the involved stakeholders are focused on the technical parts of recycling and can be better dedicated to research, development and innovation because many of the processes will be automated. Social implications The purpose of this study was to explore how Industry 4.0 technologies are integrated with CE practices. This allows for the proposal of a circular business model for recycling waste and delivering new products, significantly reducing resource consumption and optimising natural resources. In a first stage, the circular business model can be used to recycle electronic scrap, with the proposed integration of web technologies, reverse logistics and AM as a technological platform to support the model. These have several environmental, sociotechnical and economic implications for society. Originality/value The sociotechnical aspects are directly impacted by the circular smart production system (CSPS) management model, since it creates a new culture of reuse and recycling techniques for urban waste using 3D printing technologies, as well as Industry 4.0 concepts to increase production on demand and automate manufacturing processes. The tendency of the CSPS model is to contribute to deployment CE in the manufacture of new products or parts with AM approaches, generating a new path of supply and demand for society.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by Heads of Government in 2015 represent a major multilateral effort to shift the world towards more sustainable and resilient pathways, also taking into account the needs of developing countries. The SDG Agenda calls for a global partnership-at all levels-between all countries and stakeholders who need to work together to achieve the goals and targets, including a broad spectrum of actors such as multinational businesses, local governments, regional and international bodies, and civil society organizations. The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive review of the literature and develop a novel framework in order to tackle the barriers and challenges to operationalize and monitor the implementation of the SDGs. To achieve this, this paper reports on a state-of-the-art review of the SDGs, with a particular emphasis on their applications and linkages with sustainability science and aspects of knowledge management. This paper also reviews the rationale and aims of the Sustainable Development Goals, outlines some of the problems and barriers related to their implementation, and presents some areas which deserve future attention. Ultimately, this paper seeks to uncover the various gaps and suggests some means via which some of challenges seen in the accomplishment of the 17 SDGs may be faced.

No abstract

This study aims at investigating whether EI constitutes the mediating link relating Industry 4.0 technologies to operational performance improvement in emerging countries. When manufacturing companies within this socio-economic context adopt Industry 4.0 technologies, they may either reinforce or undermine the importance of practices related to EI, hence affecting the level of operational performance improvement. In this sense, we carried out a survey with 147 Brazilian manufacturers that have already started to implement Industry 4.0 technologies concurrently with their existing continuous improvement programs, which are highly based on EI practices. Findings indicate the EI indeed has a positive mediating effect on the relationship between Industry 4.0 adoption and operational performance improvement. This outcome suggests that the high-tech movement promoted by Industry 4.0 advent does not disregard the need for empowering and committing employees. This fact is also true even in contexts where employees' condition may rise additional barriers for Industry 4.0 implementation, such as emerging economies. Therefore, the implementation of Industry 4.0 seems to be a promising approach for assisting employees on continuous improvement and reinforcing the need for their participation and engagement, especially in manufacturers from sectors with higher levels of technological intensity.

No abstract

In the last decades, sustainable concerns have increasingly gained importance to organizational survival and Lean/Six Sigma approaches are becoming more and more outstanding in order to improve sustainability performance. This paper aims to evaluate the degree of importance of sustainable performance measures of Brazilian organizations and to propose guidelines to achieve sustainability aligning these measures with operational improvement programmes. Multiple data collection methods were applied as theoretical literature review, questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews with industry professionals and academic researchers. The findings show that it is the corporate responsibility to focus their efforts on both operational improvement programmes and sustainable initiatives in order to achieve better environmental protection, corporate reputation, quality management, cost performance and suppliers relations, as they are considered to be more important on organizational sustainability.

In the last decades, sustainable development has increasingly gained importance to service industry and the integration between Green, Lean and Six Sigma approaches in service systems is necessary in order to balance the need for operational efficiency with environmental commitment and social fairness. Because of that, the purpose of this paper is to critically review the Lean and Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodologies and highlight their importance to achieve sustainable services. To do this, a systematic literature review of the subjects under investigation was conducted. The study has two major contributions. First, it is one of the first researches that examine the compatibility and divergences of Green, Lean and Six Sigma concepts and implications regarding its sustainable implementation in service industry. Second, it provides a holistic Green LSS framework attempting to help practitioners to find ways of institutionalizing it in numerous kinds of services, by pointing out nine critical factors for its implementation, such as continuous customer satisfaction, ethical relations and regulatory compliance, focus on knowledge management and human behaviors, and effective Jidoka automation. The proposed framework indicates new paradigms and pathways to achieve the balance in technical, economic, social and environmental priorities in services.

No abstract