Sustainable supply chain for collaborative manufacturing

Abstract

Purpose

Owing to the manufacturing trend of stringent product disposal regulations, a new business scenario, which requires an alternative disposal option on consumer products and further product recovery operations, is increasingly important for promoting sustainable supply chain performance. The purpose of this paper is to explore the use to post‐use stage of the product lifecycle, that may have significant potential for increasing product utilisation value and reducing product disposal to landfills.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper proposes a re‐classification of the 6R (reduce, recover, redesign, reuse, recycle, remanufacturing) methodology for rectifying waste minimisation along a supply chain, to increase product utilisation at the post‐use stage.

Findings

Intensive study of 6R considerations to improve end‐of‐life planning and strategy and extend of product lifecycle management is lacking. None of the existing supply chain frameworks clearly illustrates the aspects of 6R perspectives for the use to post‐use stage.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation is that this study only focuses on 6R perspective for achieving waste minimisation along a supply chain. There is a need to explore various practical issues of the implementation, including the establishment of specific performance metrics for various manufacturing industries to assess organisational performance.

Practical implications

This proposed sustainable supply chain for collaborative manufacturing may provide a very useful source of what needs to be implemented and achieved to meet the requirements of sustainability, which is the current and future trend of manufacturing.

Originality/value

This paper provides some of the insights into holistic aspects of 6R perspective to increase product utilisation value between use and post‐use stages.

Citation

Siong Kuik, S., Verl Nagalingam, S. and Amer, Y. (2011), "Sustainable supply chain for collaborative manufacturing", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 22 No. 8, pp. 984-1001. https://doi.org/10.1108/17410381111177449