Industry 4.0: A Tool for Improving Sustainability of Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) could provide benefits in comparison to conventional manufacturing, for example, in kg / material processed for a product (e.g., decrease the use of metals). Further, the sustainability benefits of AM are argued to be evident, for example, for parts with complex designs and low production volumes. Currently, there is emerging interest to begin to use the AM in mass production. This makes the relationship between AM and sustainability more complex. The current paper focuses on the sustainability of the AM intended for mass production by introducing an Industry 4.0 framework suitable for tracking down sources of emissions and making proper adaptations to the production. The paper first presents a literature review of the current state-of-the-art at AM in respect for its sustainability (i.e., the sustainability of the production process, traceability, regulatory compliance, circularity and the value of AM in upstreaming materials). Then, the paper proceeds to present an Industry 4.0 framework that could be used to a) measure AM process life cycle; b) analyse the CO2 emissions; and c) helping producers to control the emissions of the AM products. The paper continues to outline research questions that must be solved to make AM more sustainable.