Developing a New Scheme for Sustainable Manufacturing

Due to the increasing expenses of energy, industrial contamination, deficiencies of strategic raw materials and natural resources, and ecological disasters, sustainability has become one of the most prominent areas in the recent researches. Having a profound effect on all of the organizational aspects of human life, sustainability related issues maintain a strong mutual relationship with manufacturing, as the main aspect of the modern lifestyle. Having considered the previous suggested frameworks for sustainable manufacturing, this paper proposes a new structure where not only do the three major pillars of sustainability have interlink connections, but also two more enablers are introduced to be added to the previous ones to develop the existing frameworks. Moreover, a holistic review of sustainability, its definitions, background and current issues are represented here to offer appropriate options to the manufacturing systems for moving faster and safer toward a sustainable future.