Sustainability in the Internet of Production: Interdisciplinary Opportunities and Challenges

• Published in: 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS) pp. 1 - 8
• Main Authors: Bernhard, Sebastian, Putz, Sebastian, Rohl, Calvin, Baier, Ralph, Brauner, Philipp, Christou, Ester, Dammers, Hannah, Flaig, Roman, Goriben, Leon M., Heilinger, Jan-Christoph, Hinke, Christian, Koren, Istvan, Luttgens, Dirk, Millan, Michael, Muller, Kai, Schollemann, Alexander, Vervier, Luisa, Gries, Thomas, Mertens, Alexander, Nagel, Saskia K., Piller, Frank T., Schuh, Gunther, Ziefle, Martina, Nitsch, Verena, Leicht-Scholten, Carmen
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 13.09.2023
• Subjects: Data models; Fourth Industrial Revolution; Industry 4.0; Industry 5.0; Interdisciplinary Research; Internet; Internet of Production; Manufacturing processes; Production; Sustainability; Sustainable development; Sustainable Development Goals; Textile industry
• ISSN: 2158-3412
• DOI: 10.1109/ISTAS57930.2023.10306192

The vision of the Internet of Production (loP) is focused on optimizing manufacturing processes, with the help of Industry 4.0 technologies (14Ts). However, considering global megatrends such as climate change and the need to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is a growing imperative for the manufacturing industry to become more sustainable. This opens the door to transforming the IoP into an Internet of Sustainable Production (loSP). Accordingly, this paper proposes a novel four-step loSP-framework that establishes an Information System (IS) allowing researchers and practitioners to acknowledge and adapt to the interconnected nature of sustainability. Further, to test its applicability, an inter- and cross-disciplinary perspective is adopted to illustrate case-related challenges, opportunities, and pathways - revealed by the proposed framework - in the example of a digital economy for sustainability data, strategic design of global production networks, human-robot collaboration, digital photonic production, and the textile industry. Together, the framework demonstrates the usefulness of generating holistic information on the interconnected nature of sustainability derived from process-specific and contextualized data, while simultaneously assessing the framework's utilization for sustainability, as well as the sustainability of its use.