Sustainable Manufacturing Practices in the Intelligent Manufacturing Era: A MICMAC Analysis of Roadblocks

The pandemic of 2020 has created an unprecedented and challenging situation for manufacturing organizations around the globe since its phylogenesis. Some multinational manufacturing organizations addressed the awful scenario by adopting intelligent manufacturing practices. While others, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), were pushed into grim expectation of complete lockdown. The past contribution of Indian SMEs makes them centers of change for uninterrupted operations. There is a need to adopt sustainable manufacturing practices (SMP) synchronized with modern intelligent manufacturing technologies. SMP makes manufacturing self-sustainable on materials, energy, and technology fronts. The author of current paper has contemplated the need of SMP in Indian SMEs and the practical roadblocks affecting the espousal of such a system. The roadblocks are distinguished from literature and notions of experts. To further categorize the identified roadblocks, the author has used the MICMAC analysis technique. The study author observed that deficient motivation from supply chain partners for SMP, deficient management support for SMP, a lack of sentience about government plans and regulations, and a lack of financial support for the adoption of new SMP are the roadblocks with high driving power. The identified roadblocks and observations of the current study may influence the strategic decision of policymakers on SMP implementation in Indian SMEs.