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The study aims to identify the extent to which industry 4.0 (IR4.0) adoption impacts the sustainable manufacturing (SM) performance of the manufacturing industry, focusing on the comparative analysis between developed and developing economies amid coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

The study proposes a conceptual model formed on seminal theories and literature using the cross-sectional design. For data collection, a purposive sampling method is used where 154 Malaysian (developing) and Australian (developed) manufacturing firms' data were collected. Partial least square-based structural equation modeling is employed to test the hypothesis and proposed research model.

This study finds that adoption of IR4.0 technologies does not directly influence the sustainability performance of the manufacturing industry, but rather the trajectories of SM (efficiency, flexibility, automation and big data and granularity) fully mediate the relationship between IR4.0 adoption and sustainability manufacturing performance. The comparative analysis between Australia and Malaysia shows no significant difference in the relationships or the framework; hence, the differences between developed and developing countries are not significant in this mechanism.

The study contributes to the insights of the managers regarding COVID-19 and the implementation of IR4.0 in the SM domain. The policymakers would further get better insights since the study pays attention to sustainable development goal, industry, innovation, infrastructure and responsible production.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework and key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the sustainability of the manufacturing organizations along the integrated supply chain.

A systematic literature review of existing peer-reviewed articles has been carried out to understand the strengths and weaknesses of current frameworks. A sustainability assessment framework has been proposed for the manufacturing sector. KPIs to assess sustainability performance of manufacturing organizations are identified. An empirical study is carried out for the cement industry to test the proposed framework and KPIs.

The existing frameworks on sustainability assessment lacks an integrated assessment consisting product life cycle, resources, critical factors (product, process and policy), KPIs and their interrelationship with sustainability dimensions. In total, 121 KPIs are identified for sustainability assessment of manufacturing organizations. The empirical study of the Indian cement industry identifies 52 KPIs (17 social, 15 economic and 20 environmental), which are classified into 13 factors using exploratory factor analysis.

The proposed framework is tested for the cement sector. More studies are required to validate and refine the framework to make it generalized for the manufacturing sector.

This study has developed for the first time a close interrelation among life cycle engineering, resources, critical factors, KPIs and sustainability dimensions.

The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze the recent sustainability assessment studies in the manufacturing industry from the triple-bottom-line (TBL) perspective. This paper aims to depict the status quo of practical sustainability assessment, summarize the different levels and boundaries of evaluation, and highlight the difficulties and further improvements needed to make the assessment more effective in the manufacturing industry.

Four keywords, namely, sustainability assessment, sustainable manufacturing, TBL and green production, were used to explore and find the relevant articles. First, this paper systematically reviewed the studies and analyzed the different levels and boundaries of sustainability assessment. Following this, the reviewed studies were critically discussed along with their merits and shortcomings.

The review showed that most of the sustainability assessment studies were conducted on product, company and process levels in the manufacturing industry. Nevertheless, there is still a need to focus more on plant and process level assessments to achieve the TBL objectives. Environmental assessment is comparatively matured in manufacturing industries. However, from the economic and social viewpoints, only cost analysis and workers’ safety, respectively, were considered in most of the studies. The economic and social indicators need to be more inclusive and should be validated and standardized for manufacturing industries.

Unlike previous sustainability assessment reviews in manufacturing industries which were mostly based on life cycle assessment, this paper has included environmental, social and economic aspects in one comprehensive review and focused on recent studies published from 2010 to 2017. This paper has explored the recent sustainability assessment trends and provided insights into the development of sustainability assessment in the manufacturing sector.

India’s manufacturing sector employs about 12% of the labour force and contributes to about 17% of the nation’s GDP. The Indian government intends to implement several initiatives under the “Make in India” and Atma Nirbhar Bharat banners to increase the manufacturing sector’s share of the nation’s GDP to 25% by 2025. Applying lean manufacturing, green manufacturing and Six Sigma is crucial to ensure that India’s manufacturing sectors grow sustainably in international markets. This study aims to identify sustainability indicators and ascertain their respective weights to evaluate the sustainability performance of the Indian manufacturing industry.

This research identifies 25 sustainability indicators and classifies them into the triple bottom line of sustainability based on an evaluative literature review and expert opinion. The Best Worst Method was utilised to determine the weights of the sustainability indicators. The sustainability index was developed to evaluate economic, social and environmental sustainability.

The sustainability performance of a foundry in a significant Western Indian State city was assessed by applying the developed sustainability index. After the adoption of integrated lean, green and Six Sigma (LG&SS) strategies and related practices in the foundry, there has been a notable improvement of 68.03% in the economic index, 61.62% in the social index and 13.24% in the environmental index.

The proposed sustainability index is applied and evaluated specifically for assessing the sustainability performance of Indian manufacturing SMEs. It can be used to substantiate firm’s sustainability performance and also to assess the improvement in firm’s performance in economic, environmental and social dimensions after implementing various operational excellence practices. However, it cannot serve as a benchmark tool across similar companies or organisations.

The developed sustainable index can be used to analyse the company or organisation’s sustainability performance and see how various strategies have improved things. Practitioners can use this index to assess social, economic and environmental performance and focus on areas that need improvement.

The proposed sustainability index serves as a vital tool for monitoring a firm’s progress in triple bottom line (TBL) dimensions of sustainability, tracking a diverse range of indicators and encouraging sustainable organisational practices.

This study attempts to assess the economic, social and environmental performance of Indian Manufacturing SMEs by proposing a sustainability index.

This paper aims to propose a stepwise method to improve the sustainability of manufacturing processes.

The proposed approach is based on an extensive literature review and research around the environmental, economic and social pillars of sustainability in manufacturing firms. Considering the lean approach, the manufacturing processes are mapped in a value stream and analyzed through the extensive identified sustainability criteria.

The findings reveal the consumption and waste of natural and nonrenewable resources, through going beyond the existing boundaries and focusing on relevant derived production pieces and tracing to their origins. The findings also present the effect of the time value of money on sustainability by using the cost–time profile as a sustainability criterion. This research finds out the employees’ impacts on sustainability improvement through an effective focus on technical, cultural and personal aspects.

The research outcomes provide operations managers and decision-makers in the field of sustainability with a practical platform to comprehend and assess the factors contributing to the manufacturing process sustainability and to plan relevant corrective actions accordingly.

The extended view of sustainability criteria in this research as well as its visual-analytical approach will help practitioners to assess and improve sustainability in their operations in a more holistic way.

Sustainable manufacturing is gaining prominence in light of the rising environmental and social concerns worldwide. One major task to enhance manufacturing sustainability is assessment of the current state of sustainability of a manufacturing firm. This paper reviews the existing sustainability assessment approaches applicable for manufacturing firms and observes that most of these approaches are not easy to apply for reasons such as high amount of skill, data and time requirement. Towards bridging this gap, this study proposes a sustainability assessment approach.

The assessment approach proposed in the paper uses a predefined list of potential sustainable manufacturing practices (SMPs) covering the primary and support activity domains of a manufacturing firm's value chain. It proposes a method to assess the extent of implementation of SMPs and identify associated drivers and barriers for each SMP area/category along the value chain of a firm as well as at overall firm level. A case study from textile industry is presented to demonstrate the utility of this approach.

The sustainability assessment approach adopted in this study uses less time and skills as well as ensures comprehensive coverage of SMPs. It provided valuable information to the management of the case company on how sustainable their practices are and why?

The study highlights the importance of sustainability assessment at SMP area/category level as well as explores practice area/category specific drivers and barriers. It provides a useful approach for a quick assessment of the current state of sustainability in manufacturing firms.

During the past decade, the necessity to integrate manufacturing and sustainability has increased mainly to reduce the adverse effect on the manufacturing industry, transforming traditional manufacturing into smart manufacturing by adopting the latest manufacturing technology as part of the Industry 4.0 revolution. Smart manufacturing has piqued the interest of both academics and industry. Manufacturing is a foundation of products and services required for human health, safety, and well-being in modern society and from an organizational standpoint. This paper uses bibliometric analysis better to understand the relationship between smart manufacturing and sustainability scholarship and provide an up-to-date account of current industry practices.

This paper used the bibliometric analysis method to analyze and draw conclusions from 839 articles retrieved from the Scopus database from 1994 to February 2022. The methodology is divided into four steps: data collection, analysis, visualization, and interpretation. The current study aims to comprehend smart manufacturing and sustainability scholarship using the bibliometric R-package and VOSviewer software.

The study provides fascinating insights that may assist scholars, industry professionals, and top management in conceptualizing smart manufacturing and sustainability in their organizations. The results show that the number of publications has significantly increased from 2015 onwards, reaching a maximum of 317 journals in 2021 with an increasing publication annual growth rate of 21.9%. The United Kingdom, India, the United States of America, Italy, France, Brazil and China were the most productive countries in terms of the total number of publications. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Journal of Cleaner Production, International Journal of Production Research, Production Planning and Control, Business Strategy and the Environment Technology in Society, and Benchmarking: An International Journal emerged as the top outlets.

The research in the area of smart manufacturing and sustainability is underpinned by this study, which aims to understand the trends in this field over the last two decades in terms of prolific authors, most influential journals, key themes, and the field's intellectual and social structure. However, according to the research, this field is still in its early stages of development. As a result, a more in-depth analysis is required to aid in the development of a better understanding of this new field.

The paper focuses on integrating smart manufacturing and sustainability through increased interest from 2015 onwards through the literature review. Specific policies should be formulated to improve the manufacturing sector's competence. Furthermore, these findings can guide researchers who want to delve deeper into smart manufacturing and sustainability.

The emergence the fourth industrial revolution, known as well as industry 4.0, and its applications in the manufacturing sector ushered a new era for the business entities. It not only promises enhancement in operational efficiency but also magnify sustainable operations practices. This current paper provides a thorough bibliometric and network analysis of more than 600 articles highlighting the benefits in favor of the sustainability dimension in the industry 4.0 paradigm.

The analysis begins by identifying over 1,000 published articles in Scopus, which were then refined to works of proven influence and those authored by influential researchers. Using rigorous bibliometric software, established and emergent research clusters were identified for intellectual network analysis, identification of key research topics, interrelations and collaboration patterns.

This bibliometric analysis of the field helps graphically to illustrate the publications evolution over time and identify areas of current research interests and potential directions for future research. The findings provide a robust roadmap for mapping the research territory in the field of industry 4.0 and sustainability.

As the literature on sustainability and industry 4.0 expands, reviews capable of systematizing the main trends and topics of this research field are relevant.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the tools, methods and models that UK manufacturing companies adopt and apply in order to achieve resiliency and economic sustainability. The results of this work can assist in developing the foundations for defining a new joint resiliency/sustainability paradigm to assist industry.

Through a detailed, triangulated secondary data analysis and industry survey, the authors initially identify and then analyse the key resiliency and sustainability characteristics surrounding manufacturing operations. This paper initially reviews key literatures around resiliency and sustainability models and frameworks and subsequently draws out their key features and weaknesses. The work then details the research survey undertaken in to manufacturing companies aimed at identifying the resiliency/sustainability approaches that are adopted in companies. A sample of 72 manufacturing companies are used in the survey and from which the results are based.

Through analysing the fundamental business data of sales and manufacturing costs for 72 manufacturing companies, the authors cluster the companies in to four key manufacturing profiles. The work then shows through a more detailed analysis of the profiles that companies which are sustainable and more resilient in nature are, better engaged and connected to the development and application of resiliency and sustainability models. It was found that companies who seem to struggle in achieving economic sustainability or lack the ability to bounce back from various set-backs either do not employ such models or at best apply tools and techniques in an ad hoc manner.

The paper provides key insights in to the adoption of tools, techniques and models surrounding the achievement of resiliency and sustainability in manufacturing companies. In so doing, the paper offers a new view on these issues and with the profiling exercise undertaken, companies will be able to identify their position in relation to the survey companies. This can be of benefit to the wider industrial and academic community. The development of a qualitative assessment around a relatively small sample size has its obvious limitations and it is crucial that further work with a range of companies in the area of manufacturing sustainability is key to developing (and also validating) a comprehensive set of resiliency and sustainability characteristics.

The paper highlights the issues surrounding existing academic resiliency/sustainability models and through the industry survey, it provides further information on where UK manufacturing companies are on adopting specific resiliency/sustainability models. The work suggests that the resiliency/sustainability landscape of UK manufacturing companies is much more complex and that a single strategic approach towards achieving improved manufacturing performance is somewhat dated and ineffective.

The development of a set of resiliency/sustainability profiles including the identification of the specific tools and techniques adopted by industry is aimed at tackling directly the issues of improving company performance and is considered by the authors as one of a kind. The results of the survey provide essential information on the resiliency/sustainability landscape of UK manufacturing companies.

Manufacturers and engineers need a practical and operational way to understand sustainable manufacturing and to apply it to their shop floors. The single index enables manufacturing industries to make decisions considering the continuous improvement to increase sustainability performance. The purpose of this paper is to develop a manufacturing sustainability index (MSI) based on lean and sustainability concepts using sustainable-value stream mapping.

The methodology of this research is linked to Delphi- analytical hierarchy process (AHP) qualitative assessment with sustainable-value stream mapping quantitative analysis for determining MSI. The Delphi method is used with relevant indicator selection, sustainable-value stream mapping is used to score the relevant indicator with efficiency approach and the AHP method is used to determine the indicator weight. To evaluate the applicability of this framework for assessing sustainability in the manufacturing process, a case study in Indonesian Wooden Furniture was developed.

The findings of this research is the framework for evaluating and assessing the sustainability performance of the manufacturing process. Although evaluation of the framework is limited to the furniture industry, there is a methodology potential to reproduce for the other sectors.

Theoretically, this study has provided a single index to measure performance of the manufacturing sustainability comprehensively at factory level. However, the implementation of the developed model is too limited. More application in different sectors and different industrial sizes is needed.

The value of this research lies in the novelty of the single index in measuring manufacturing sustainability and the relevant indicators for the furniture industry in Indonesia. The selection of the indicators has involved practitioners in the furniture industry and encompassed economic, environmental and social dimensions. The visualization of indicators through sustainable-value stream mapping is proven to be more practical and helpful for industrialists.