Sustainable value creation in manufacturing networks: Analysis of methodologies supporting innovation and solution engineering

The European report 'Vision for 2020' calls for an understanding of manufacturing as a network of complex development-oriented relationships. The significance of the manufacturing industry in Europe is widely known and accepted. Directly and through services, manufacturing companies generate wealth and jobs in every country in Europe. Globalisation has sparked a novel industrial revolution, leading to a new worldwide distribution of production and markets. Increasing demands for sustainability, however, have created new challenges and emerging opportunities for society and for business. The traditional transnational product and service solutions cannot be sustained in the emerging eco-sensitive business environments, where growing volumes of trade and the patterns of commercial operations impose significant environmental challenges all over Europe. Much of the opportunity to address sustainability is found in enhanced network management. Therefore, leading companies are looking for new approaches, so as to manage sustainability impacts effectively - from sourcing and production to distribution, product logistics support, and 'afterlife'. If the partners in the manufacturing network do not manage the future challenges surrounding regulation, reporting and compliance assurance, scarcity of resources, or the effects of climate change on their business, their ability to operate as a network partner could be dramatically affected. That could be fatal to their business. To be successful and resilient in this changing business environment, manufacturers must be proactive. Industrial practitioners need to be creative in recognising the opportunities that the sustainable economy will present for the development of new products and services, the identification of changes in markets, and the optimisation of their internationally operating network in view of the new sustainability criteria. A concrete way of exploiting these opportunities involves the development and implementation of new sustainability based industrial models and concepts.