Logistics and the supply chain are areas of great importance within organizations. Due to planning gaps, an increase in extra and unnecessary transport costs is usually observed in several companies due to their commercial commitments and need to comply with the delivery time and the batch quantity of products, leading to a negative economic impact. Thus, the objective of this work was to adjust an optimization model to maximize the shipments usually carried out by the companies. To validate the model, an automotive components manufacturer was selected, allowing us to apply the model to a real case study and evaluate the advantages and drawbacks of this tool. It was found that the company to validate the model exports most of its products, and most pallets sent are not fully optimized, generating excessive expense for the company in terms of urgent transport. To solve this problem, two mathematical optimization models were used for the company’s current reality, optimizing the placement of boxes per pallet and customer. With the use of the new tool, it was possible to determine that five pallets should be sent to the customer weekly, which correspond to their needs, and that have the appropriate configurations so that the pallet is sent completely.

This article provides an insightful overview of titanium alloys, focusing on their production, key applications, and the challenges in machining and processing. It delves into the extraction methods like the Kroll and Hunter’s processes, the formation of alloys with elements like aluminum and vanadium, and their use in aerospace, biomedical, and automotive industries due to their excellent strength-to-weight ratio. This issue also addresses the difficulties in machining titanium, efforts in enhancing its properties, and the role of advanced manufacturing techniques, especially Hybrid Manufacturing, in improving efficiency and reducing costs. This study intended to perform a comprehensive literature analysis on titanium and its alloys, encompassing extraction, manufacturing, and post-processing, while examining contemporary advancements, employed approaches, and resultant findings in this domain. This work seeks to provide organized information on research pertaining to titanium, specifically the Ti6Al4V alloy, encompassing its extraction, manufacturing processes, post-processing, applications, and identified challenges, thereby facilitating the rapid knowledge acquisition of emerging researchers in this domain. Additionally, a SWOT analysis is included as a method for scenario analysis.

The automotive industry has recently witnessed a growing emphasis on sustainability and environmental responsibility. Within this context, automotive collision repair workshops significantly contribute to the sector’s environmental impact (EI), and it is crucial to evaluate EI efficiently, have better‐informed decision‐making, and promote sustainability within this domain. The conventional practices in these workshops often have a significant EI, from the disposal of hazardous materials to the energy‐intensive processes of paint application and sheet metal repair. However, there is a significant gap in the literature regarding works undertaken to mitigate this problem. The primary objective is to create a computational program model that swiftly and accurately enables the evaluation of the EI of any automotive collision repair workshop for each service provided (e.g., washing and painting). The computational program, in turn, facilitates a process of continuous improvement concerning environmental sustainability (one of the Triple Bottom Line pillars). A detailed analysis of the reports on each service made it possible to scrutinize and highlight the factors contributing most negatively to the EI.

Lithium (Li) batteries have been part of any citizen’s daily life for about 30 years, although the knowledge about their potential dates to the early XX century. Being present in a wide range of applications, from small electronic appliances to hybrid or electric cars, Li has become essential to the most recent battery technology. In the need to change the harmful habits of fossil fuel usage, Li applications promise to provide a more sustainable way to deal with energy supply and improve energy storage devices efficiency. Resorting to Li carries the environmental burden of past battery technology since the materials used are well-known in the industry. Little changes have been made in Li battery manufacturing since it first became an industry, compromising its potential environmental benefits. The growing consumption drives efforts to extract Li and other scarce metals, but recycling rates are still too low for this industry to be considered a circular economy. Besides the quantifiable environmental indicators, many other intangible ones offer insight into the drawbacks and benefits of this emerging industry. In this study, the life cycle of Li-based energy storage devices is put into perspective from Li itself extraction, processing, and recycling. It was possible to identify many process variables in the Li life cycle using studies published in the last fifteen years, which can immediately reduce this promising technology’s environmental footprint. Besides immediate improvements, recycling has proven to be a highly efficient way to recover and reuse enormous amounts of Li and other materials in battery manufacturing. Beyond Li usage, a significant effort should be made to improve the supply of the remaining materials in a battery. This work intends to provide a comprehensive analysis using structured information about the Li life cycle, helping to understand the benefits and drawbacks of the intensive use of this kind of metal.

The automotive sector is marked by intense competition, technological innovation, and a continuous need to improve efficiency, cut costs, and ensure responsible operations. In this scenario, industrial layout planning plays a crucial role, as it directly affects internal motion, logistical efficiency, and the ability to adjust to new challenges. This work addresses the requirement for an organization to create a new production area to meet its strategic growth demands. The research incorporated the Systematic Layout Planning (SLP) approach to formulate layout options and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to assist in multi-criteria decision-making, taking into account factors such as operational efficiency, adaptability, safety, and sustainability. The data collected demonstrates the effectiveness of using SLP and AHP together as an organized approach to aid strategic decisions in the industrial sector. In addition to providing concrete answers to the company used to validate this approach, this study strengthens the scientific basis that proves that these tools, when used together, form a reliable framework for improving factory layouts in the automotive industry. The novelty of this paper lies in the hybrid application of Lean philosophy and its methods, combined with SLP and the AHP. By applying Lean principles, namely reducing possible waste to each alternative prior to the SLP and AHP comparative analysis across criteria, the approach yields more targeted and impactful results aligned with the main goals of any company. This contribution is especially significant because, unlike most research that focuses on changing existing layouts, the methodologies were successfully implemented in this case in the planning of a new automotive components production unit from the outset, filling an important gap in the literature and highlighting the relevance of economic and environmental sustainability.