Smart Manufacturing for Sustainability and Net Zero Transition

Dear Colleagues,

In 2015, the United nations proposed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with each one addressing a different social issue, but all of them aiming to tackle climate change. Specifically, SDGs 9 (industry and infrastructure) and 12 (responsible consumption and production) focus on the industrial sector and the contribution of industrial carbon emissions to climate change. The manufacturing sector accounts for more than 20% of total greenhouse gas emissions globally, with the majority coming from energy-intensive industries. In order for industry to significantly reduce its impact on global warming, novel approaches should be implemented. Following national and international guidelines, different approaches and technologies have been developed with the aim of reducing carbon emissions in the manufacturing sector. However, the implementation of these approaches is still in progress, and manufacturing is still a carbon-intensive sector.

This issue aims to present the latest research and developments in sustainable manufacturing. It is important to highlight that in order to make the manufacturing sector more environmentally friendly and sustainable, the focus should be not only on technological solutions and the environmental aspects of sustainability, but also on the social and financial facets of sustainability. In addition, changes considered should include different manufacturing levels, from design, materials and processes to equipment, manufacturing systems, human resources and standardisation levels.

Regarding the latter, it is important to support both SMEs and larger companies in understanding the relevant regulations and guide them towards sustainability, including, but not limited to, quantifying their sustainability readiness and educating high-level managers in energy efficiency, circularity and green strategies other than sustainability. Following this, operators should be educated to ensure awareness regarding sustainability, but also to ensure that they have the skills to operate and maintain novel technological solutions that promote sustainability in manufacturing. At the system level, different approaches such as scheduling and monitoring could be applied, while at the equipment level, the concept of energy efficiency could be explored together with digitalisation or other Industry 4.0-enabling technologies, or environmentally friendly novel and smart processes (e.g., additive manufacturing). The sustainability of scaling down and low-carbon materials and manufacturing processes should be examined at the design level, but also during the execution and operation phases.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Design for sustainable manufacturing (including safe and sustainable designs);
• Novel technologies and tools to reduce carbon emissions and the consumption of materials (e.g., water, energy, resources) in manufacturing;
• Smart manufacturing processes and carbon emissions;
• Twin transition;
• Life cycle analysis of carbon-intensive manufacturing processes;
• Process optimisation based on sustainability criteria;
• Sustainability of equipment and systems;
• Training, upskilling and reskilling of workforces;
• Green skills;
• Sustainability readiness of SMEs;
• Net zero transition;
• Sustainability of green strategies, e.g., circular economy, dematerialisation;
• Sustainability pillars trade-offs;
• Decision making for sustainability.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Vasiliki C Panagiotopoulou
Dr. Emanuele Pagone
Prof. Dr. Konstantinos Salonitis
Dr. Panagiotis Stavropoulos
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• sustainability
• manufacturing
• energy efficiency
• process optimisation
• raising awareness
• sustainability readiness
• training, reskilling and upskilling
• social sustainability
• financial sustainability
• environmental sustainability