Enabling the Circular Economy transition: a sustainable lean manufacturing recipe for Industry 4.0

Abstract

Over the past 10 years, the concepts and objectives of circular economy have been increasingly detailed and become strategic issues of international, European, and national policies. However, the transition towards circular production models continues to be affected by several barriers and critical factors that make the transition difficult to achieve. The paper tries to design a relationship between sustainable production and lean production, highlighting the opportunity to invest in reverse‐logistics and how Industry 4.0 system represents a breeding ground for circular economy targets application. The aim of the current study is to examine the relationships among sustainable production, lean production, and Industry 4.0 in order to evidence the need to adopt a lean methodology and Industry 4.0 technologies in a sustainable development perspective for companies. Following a holistic vision, the authors summarize the production principles and formulas, which, although in parallel, lead to similar results and therefore represent the pillars of a competitive and sustainable business. In conclusion, exploring the circular economy principles and production chain model, challenges, opportunities, and future outlooks are formulated.

Industry 4.0, innovation, and sustainable development: A systematic review and a roadmap to sustainable innovation

“…Moreover, the implication of Industry 4.0 and digital technologies for the circular economy has received considerable attention (Gupta et al, 2021; Nascimento et al, 2019). For example, Ciliberto et al (2021) identified and explained the correlations among various features of circular economy and Industry 4.0. Alternatively, Awan et al (2021) offered a deep understanding of business and sociopolitical interests and expectations regarding circular economy transition under the Industry 4.0 context.…”

Exploring Concomitant Concepts in the Discussion on the Circular Economy: A Bibliometric Analysis of Web of Science, Scopus and Twitter

“…The circular economy is a well-rooted concept in the area of sustainable development (Geissdoerfer et al, 2017;Kirchherr et al, 2017;Schroeder et al, 2019;Horvath et al, 2019;Stankevičienė & Nikanorova, 2020), waste management (Ji et al, 2018), part of the intellectual concept of the green economy (D' Amato et al, 2017), as well as supply chain (Braz et al, 2018) were heavily discussed within public policy, as well as at the level of organization and business models (Michelini et al, 2017). CE is also associated with the model of industrial symbiosis, which assumes vital business networking to create values and competitive advantages (Yazan & Fraccascia, 2019), and industry 4.0 (Khan et al, 2021;Rajput & Singh, 2020;Ciliberto et al, 2021). CE is also recognized as an evolving approach aiming at the sustainable usage of various raw materials and natural resources (McDowall et al, 2017), requiring a move from the traditional approach or linear model of "take, make, use and dispose/waste" to the innovative approach based on circular model of "reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, remanufacture and redesign" (Jabbour et al, 2020).…”

Adaptive neuro fuzzy evaluation of energy and non‐energy material productivity impact on sustainable development based on circular economy and gross domestic product

“…Collaborative efforts, knowledge sharing in sustainability management and marketisation of the waste recycling represent the actions that need to be performed to adopt circular economy (Saha et al, 2020). Smart technologies and digital environment could improve the potential of the manufacturing supply chain but there is need for greater awareness of the enhanced paradigms in interactions between human and machine (Ciliberto et al, 2021). In article (García‐Quevedo et al, 2020) has been stressed out there is lack of human resources as an obstacle by firm engaged in circular economy activities.…”

“…Smart technologies and digital environment could improve the potential of the manufacturing supply chain but there is need for greater awareness of the enhanced paradigms in interactions between human and machine (Ciliberto et al, 2021). In article (García-Quevedo et al, 2020) has been stressed out there is lack of human resources as an obstacle by firm engaged in circular economy activities.…”