A review of manufacturing sustainability assessment tool selection criteria: A quantitative score-rating system versus process-data sustainability assessment

Abstract

The scarcity of natural resources has urged the necessity to adopt sustainability practices into current industrial activities. Manufacturing industries have a significant contribution towards socio-economic development by creating job opportunities for the communities and stimulating economic growth. Manufacturing activities are also well-known for their considerably high consumption of natural resources and waste generation. With these underlying issues, research has been actively carried out to develop a holistic framework in both conceptual and practical manners for sustainability improvements, specifically in the manufacturing sectors. Various methods in the research field often lead to the dilemma of selecting the appropriate methods for application. A comprehensive review is desirable to understand the current research efforts by evaluating the specific research problems, methodology developments, and research findings. This paper aims to evaluate the available sustainability assessment methods that were demonstrated with case studies, thereby defining the common practices adopted by the researchers in opting for their preferred methods. A systematic review was conducted to identify the common selection criteria for sustainability assessment methods. This study could provide a holistic insight to streamline the available options and justify their selection according to the application needs.