A systematic literature review on the evolution of sustainable manufacturing practices: Key findings and implications

Abstract

Increased societal awareness, stakeholder pressure, stringent environmental norms, and the need to sustain in the competitive business market have demanded environment-friendly manufacturing practices from the industrial communities. Sustainable manufacturing (SM) practices have gained widespread attention as they aim to balance economic, environmental, and social activities of organizations. However, still there is a lacuna in understanding the concept of SM practices and there is a need to monitor the developments related to SM practices. Thus, there is a need to conduct a comprehensive review study for an improved understanding of the progress of SM practices. Accordingly, this study aims to identify various strategies followed by organizations for implementing SM practices. To identify various strategies, 89 articles were selected from the SCOPUS database (published between 2012 and 2022). These 89 articles were selected by using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework, a systematic literature review (SLR) technique. The selected articles were investigated based on year, journals, country, research methods, focused industry, and techniques followed. Bibliometric and network analysis were performed to establish cluster domains and to identify evolving research areas. Bibliometric analysis reveals that currently, the industrial communities is emphasizing circular economy models for SM practices. Network analysis identifies six domains of SM practices: lean manufacturing, renewable energy adoption, green manufacturing, life cycle assessment, zero waste manufacturing practices, and circular economy model. To conclude, the important contribution of this study is that it tracks the progress of SM practices over the years and highlights current SM practices.