Closing the gap: the role of distributed manufacturing systems for overcoming the barriers to manufacturing sustainability
Closing the gap: the role of distributed manufacturing systems for overcoming the barriers to manufacturing sustainability
The demand for distributed manufacturing systems (DMS) in the manufacturing sector has notably gained vast popularity as a suitable choice to accomplish sustainability benefits. Manufacturing companies are bound to face critical barriers in their pursuit of sustainability goals. However, the extent to which the DMS attributes relate to sustainable performance and impact on critical barriers to sustainability is considerably unknown. To help close this gap, this study proposes a methodology to determine the relative importance of sustainability barriers, the influence of DMS on these barriers, and the relationship between DMS attributes and sustainable performance. Drawing upon a rich data pool from the Chinese manufacturing industry, the Best-Worst Method (BWM) is used to investigate the relative importance of the sustainability barriers and determine how the DMS attributes influence these barriers and relate to sustainability. The study findings show that ‘organizational barriers’ are the most severe barriers and indicate that ‘reduced carbon emissions’ has the highest impact on ‘organizational’ and ‘socio-cultural barriers’ whereas ‘public approval’ has the highest impact on ‘organizational barriers. The results infer that ‘reduction of carbon emission’ is the DMS strategy strongly linked to improved sustainable performance. Hence, the results can offer in-depth insight to decision-makers, practitioners, and regulatory bodies on the criticality of the barriers and the influence of DMS attributes on the sustainability barriers and improve sustainable performance for increased global competitiveness. Moreover, our study offers a solid foundation for further studies on the link between DMS and sustainable performance.
Gupta, Himanshu
5fba70c4-3015-497e-849b-312dcaaa04d5
Lawal, Jennifer
54bf5084-846e-4649-b83c-5f7ddcae2f9f
Orji, Ifeyinwa Juliet
4c8c903a-2be4-45fb-86ef-612de0d9db64
Kusi-Sarpong, Simonov
a7e68240-2b34-456e-9849-c01bd10c68f7
Gupta, Himanshu
5fba70c4-3015-497e-849b-312dcaaa04d5
Lawal, Jennifer
54bf5084-846e-4649-b83c-5f7ddcae2f9f
Orji, Ifeyinwa Juliet
4c8c903a-2be4-45fb-86ef-612de0d9db64
Kusi-Sarpong, Simonov
a7e68240-2b34-456e-9849-c01bd10c68f7
Gupta, Himanshu, Lawal, Jennifer, Orji, Ifeyinwa Juliet and Kusi-Sarpong, Simonov
(2021)
Closing the gap: the role of distributed manufacturing systems for overcoming the barriers to manufacturing sustainability.
IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.
(In Press)
Abstract
The demand for distributed manufacturing systems (DMS) in the manufacturing sector has notably gained vast popularity as a suitable choice to accomplish sustainability benefits. Manufacturing companies are bound to face critical barriers in their pursuit of sustainability goals. However, the extent to which the DMS attributes relate to sustainable performance and impact on critical barriers to sustainability is considerably unknown. To help close this gap, this study proposes a methodology to determine the relative importance of sustainability barriers, the influence of DMS on these barriers, and the relationship between DMS attributes and sustainable performance. Drawing upon a rich data pool from the Chinese manufacturing industry, the Best-Worst Method (BWM) is used to investigate the relative importance of the sustainability barriers and determine how the DMS attributes influence these barriers and relate to sustainability. The study findings show that ‘organizational barriers’ are the most severe barriers and indicate that ‘reduced carbon emissions’ has the highest impact on ‘organizational’ and ‘socio-cultural barriers’ whereas ‘public approval’ has the highest impact on ‘organizational barriers. The results infer that ‘reduction of carbon emission’ is the DMS strategy strongly linked to improved sustainable performance. Hence, the results can offer in-depth insight to decision-makers, practitioners, and regulatory bodies on the criticality of the barriers and the influence of DMS attributes on the sustainability barriers and improve sustainable performance for increased global competitiveness. Moreover, our study offers a solid foundation for further studies on the link between DMS and sustainable performance.
Text
FinalManuscriptBlindTEM_Revision2
- Accepted Manuscript
Restricted to Repository staff only until 10 February 2023.
Request a copy
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 10 February 2021
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 448391
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/448391
ISSN: 0018-9391
PURE UUID: 51901083-394d-4641-aaa0-7a4df4ff3570
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 21 Apr 2021 16:32
Last modified: 13 Dec 2021 03:35
Export record
Contributors
Author:
Himanshu Gupta
Author:
Jennifer Lawal
Author:
Ifeyinwa Juliet Orji
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics