**5. The Manufacturing Industry in Romania**

The manufacturing industry in Romania is constantly growing, being one of the most important industries therein. More than 1.2 million employees work in this industry, which is 35% of the total workforce in the economy [31]. Included in the manufacturing industry are companies in the food industry, beverage manufacturing, tobacco products, textiles and clothing, wood processing, furniture, chemical industry, auto industry, and pharmaceutical products manufacturing (companies with a NACE code between 10 and 33). The net profit balance is 542 million euros (the difference between the total net profit and the total losses), and the margin of the big factories in the local economy was 3.5% in 2019 [39–42]. The first positions are occupied by companies in the automotive industry, crude oil processing, road transport, the production of soft drinks, the manufacture of household appliances, and the manufacture of alcoholic beverages [42–44]. The characteristics of the Romanian market are a skilled labor force that is competent in the field, a low/medium level of remuneration (compared to the salary level in the European Union), a university environment open to collaborations with the industry in order to develop the required competences, adaptability, average involvement of the state authorities, and the capacity for expansion and globalization [38–44]. The process of production systematized for the manufacturing is shown in Figure 5. The definition of the process begins with the definition of the strategic elements. The next level includes the requirements, the conditions for carrying out the processes, and the current situation of the processes. The next level includes the elements related to the company's logistics and integrating the customer's requirements. Finally, we find the reverse logistics.

**Figure 5.** Process model for manufacturing industry.

#### **6. Results**

This section presents the results obtained from the research. At the end of the presentation of the results, the hierarchical framework for sustainability assessment of manufacturing industry is presented.

#### *6.1. Industry 4.0: Characteristics, Implications, and Proposed Developments*

Industry 4.0. includes the tendency of companies toward automation and data exchange in technologies and manufacturing processes that include cyber-physical systems (CPS), the Internet of Things (IoT), the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), cloud computing, cognitive computing and artificial intelligence, and other implications related to these fields [44–51]. New digital industrial technology presents a number of facilities for the sustainability of companies [52–58]. Below are the results obtained in the research conducted with the 100 experts from the fields related to manufacturing industry.

The information is structured in Table 5. The results obtained for each of the following four directions are presented: company information, Industry 4.0—interpretation, facilitators, and barriers; Industry 4.0—maturity; and national technology platform Industry 4.0. For each investigated element, the characteristics and indicators that will be used in the hierarchical framework formation were retained.


**Table 5.** Sustainable development and Industry 4.0.

For the first direction—information about the company—directions for characterizing the companies of the study respondents were targeted. Percentages were identified by major categories (as a result of responses based on a single choice from a number of variants). The second direction—interpretation, facilitators, and barriers—addressed a number of important elements for Industry 4.0. The respondents had multiple selections. In the interpretation of the data the percentage of the total respondents was used. The third direction—maturity—allowed the respondents a unique choice based on Likert scale assessment. In the interpretation of the data the percentage of the total respondents was used. The last direction, —national technology platform Industry 4.0—allowed a single selection, and the value obtained was interpreted as a percentage.
