The digital twin solution is an industry 4.0 specific tool that has grown in the past decade, stemming from the modelling and simulation approaches that existed before, complemented by new sensor capabilities, cloud processing, big data analytics, and implementation mechanisms. As it is being used mostly in the present by manufacturing companies, the primary focus of the solution is to enhance productivity and reduce costs by optimizing processes and enabling real-time problem-solving, sometimes based on decision-making systems and artificial intelligence. However, as companies are being faced with an increasingly steep list of environmental requirements and regulations, ranging from the classical pollution control and waste recycling to full-scale economic models based on circular economy and transformative carbon dioxide elimination programs, the features of the manufacturing digital twins must also evolve to provide an appropriate answer to these challenges. In this paper, the authors propose a framework for building better digital twins for production systems by incorporating environmental-related functions. The demarches start from analysing existing solutions presented in literature from the point of view of environmental suitability, based on the use of the MoSCoW method for differentiating attributes (into Must have, Should have, Could have, Will not have elements) and determining development alternatives based on the employment of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) for feature selection, and the TRIZ method (Theory of Inventive Problem-Solving) for application guidelines. The MCDA was performed within a focus group of nine production specialists from regionally successful sectors. We arrive at the conclusion that environmental-related functions are poorly implemented in the digital twins of the present (although more so in integrated solutions and custom-built applications) and that the development of the proper tools, databases, and interpretation keys should proceed immediately in the fields of production engineering, industrial ecology, and software development to support them.

Addressing the global threat of climate change is one of the present priorities of both companies and their customers. Societal trends demand a significant change in consumer behavior in the foreseeable future to contribute to the reduction in carbon emissions reaching the atmosphere, and national and international governments are committing their resources and efforts to this complex endeavor. The current paper addresses the other side of this conundrum, which is how firms can propose carbon-smart alternatives for their products on the market, in order to match the growing interest and the changing behaviors of the consumers. For this purpose, a research and innovation methodology is proposed to expand the design for concept X, namely, the design for sustainability set of guidelines in the area of developing products with a reduced carbon footprint under conditions of timeliness and economic viability. The research is based on refining practical experience and the use of consecrated management techniques and is validated through the employment of a Delphi-based forecasting process. The authors conclude that the large-scale adoption of such recommendations for the various domains of the manufacturing sector has the potential to contribute to climate change mitigation significantly.

The present study focuses on an up-to-date topic regarding flying equipment identified within the category of drones that use, for propulsion and air movements, the power generated by electric motors. In this paper, researchers focus on implementing bladeless technology to calculate, develop, and construct flying equipment known in the literature as drones. The entire structure of the prototype, all the needed parts, is to be obtained using additive manufacturing technologies, which assumes practical realization using 3D-printing equipment. Nowadays, the 3D-printing process has been proven to be a reliable solution when it comes to manufacturing complex shape parts in quite a short time and with reduced costs. The practical study within the present research aims to obtain polymer-based, lightweight parts with complex shapes inside to be implemented in the propulsion of a drone. The complex surface geometry of the parts that this research used is influenced by the ventilation technology offered by the “Air Multiplier” technology. The entire structure of the final drone equipment, all the parts, is to be manufactured using fused filament fabrication (FFF). The main purpose of the fusion is to use the advantages offered by this technology in drones to obtain advantages such as augmented values of thrust, a more agreeable and muffled sound signature, or an increased level of safety.

Integrated management systems (IMSs) can already be considered a proven tool to help companies cope with the challenges associated with staying competitive in the face of dynamic stakeholder requirements. The present paper proposes a new instrument designed to evaluate and communicate the maturity achieved by an integrated management system (IMS) for responding properly to the requirements of its reference standards in a consolidated manner. The approach mainly aims to highlight the level of integration achieved on common requirements of the component standards and to determine the extent to which they work together as a whole. At the same time, it is useful to identify the needs for improvement in the system as a whole or in its sub-systems. The proposed methodology uses the transmutation in the RGB color space (red–green–blue) of the process audits’ results achieved under each standard, followed by the analysis of the IMS characteristics, with tools specific to the color space, based on the affinities between the two domains. To sustain the thoroughness of this approach, a case study of an integrated system for an industrial company is presented, analyzing the situation from two different evolution stages of the IMS. The approach is presented as a proof-of-concept, without large scale validation.

The paper presents the possibilities and results of using either brainstorming or morphological charts for the development of new products in the field of smart furniture. In order to ensure the best possible match between product characteristics and customer requirements and to shorten development time in terms of resilience, an application of morphological charts is presented. The process started with potential customer polling. The obtained data was centralized and processed as shown into morphological matrices and the results were validated within conceptual design experiments. Similarly, a pure brainstorming based incremental design solution is presented, as well as a combined approach, integrating both methods. Analyzed by several professionals in furniture design, the models resulted from the experiments show the potential of each method with respect to market targeted by a start-up furniture company

The present paper approaches the timely topic of sustainable production with low carbon emissions, investigating the link between existing strategies and policies and the reality that manufacturers must deal with, with the appraisal going from high-level national and international plans to specific firm needs. This is in line with the preoccupations of manufacturers in Europe to retain and regain their market shares under strict environmental excellence, one of the defining features of the continent’s economy. The existing strategies, specialized plans and mechanisms for the reduction of emissions were analyzed to discern their structural relationships and the clarity and palpability of their content when passing through the successive levels of interest. The research methodology employs the MEAL Plan for determining the state of the art, and based on the findings, two specific tools were used for policy analysis and informing a brainstorming and discussion session aimed at future improvements. The instruments used are SWOT-Radar Screen methodology and latent semantic analysis as implemented by the Tropes Zoom software. Structural connections were revealed, together with an improved understanding of the interventions proposed in 5 European-level strategies, 14 national-level strategies (with a focus on Romania) and a case analysis for a generic manufacturing company. Among the main findings, the authors propose improved awareness development for all the stakeholders, strengthened and correlated monitoring of sustainability results and a better implementation of an institutional ecosystem for providing support to companies. The results obtained are intended for the use of policy makers to improve their future planning cycles in a way that supports the companies in achieving these societal goals.