Sustainable Production

Production processes have both positive and negative impacts on the sustainability of a product and the wider organization. Positive impacts include the creation of economic value, providing employment, allowing development and fostering wealth as well as addressing customer needs. In addition, products can also have direct positive impacts by addressing UN Sustainable Development Goals. Ideally, an organization should center its business strategy and model around such products (see Chapter 3 ). However, negative impacts can co-exist. These impacts are often linked to materials or substances that require significant amounts of energy/water/chemicals. Negative impacts may result from processes that use lots of energy/water/chemicals/emissions or involve sub-standard working conditions. This chapter provides an overview of the generic engineering methods used in production and strategies to ensure the sustainability of these methods. Furthermore, opportunities and challenges of digitalization in sustainable production and other fields are analyzed. Examples covering those production processes and sectors with the biggest impacts (including EV batteries, steel, cement, energy as well as agricultural production) will be discussed.