Dear Colleagues,

Sustainability Journal (ISSN 2071-1050) is currently running a Special Issue entitled “Lean Manufacturing Strategies and Energy Management for Industry 4.0”.

The official submission deadline is 31 July 2021.

Special Issue Information

Industry 4.0 is a strategy for being competitive in global markets. This strategy provides the integration of lean production systems with autonomous and dynamic solutions, enhancing the digitalization of data, flows, and machinery. Digital tools support the management and control of lean production. Therefore, the Internet of Things, Cyber-Physical Systems, Big Data, and other technologies are widely applied in Industry 4.0. In this production environment, the role of the operator significantly changes, and new helpers and assistance systems are currently under development. Humans can focus on value-adding activities, while non-adding operations are analyzed and reduced. Moreover, the digitalization of manufacturing systems allows the production flows to be optimized in terms of time and energy. The improvement of energy efficiency is another critical topic in Industry 4.0. 

This Special Issue invites papers presenting methodologies, strategies, tools, and best practices for the optimization of lean manufacturing and energy management in Industry 4.0. Physical, sensorial and cognitive aids for reducing non-ergonomic tasks, while supporting the Operator 4.0 to handle and manage increasingly complex cognitive tasks, are also encouraged. We also welcome papers presenting frameworks and approaches for supporting data management and elaboration in this context. To foster the life cycle design of products and systems, new methods and tools for assessing the economic and environmental impacts of Industry 4.0 factories are encouraged.

Dr. Paolo Cicconi
Prof. Dr. Yingjie Yang
Dr. Alessandra Papetti
Dr. Marco Mandolini
Dr. Beata Mrugalska
Dr. Marta Rossi
Prof. Dr. Paolo Salini
Guest Editors

Keywords

• Lean manufacturing
• Lean management
• Energy Value Stream Mapping
• Industry 4.0
• Design methods and strategies for lean manufacturing
• Human-Centered Manufacturing
• Product-service strategies
• Flexible logistics
• Life Cycle Analysis
• Life Cycle Cost
• Cyber-Physical systems
• Big Data analysis
• Digital processes
• Cloud computing

More informations:

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/lean_manufacturing