Procedure for selecting use case-specific sustainability indicators in manufacturing systems

The manufacturing industry faces increasing pressure to minimize its environmental impact while maintaining economic viability. Sustainability assessments are essential for determining the environmental impact, yet numerous existing assessment systems primarily focus on external reporting and do not consider use case-specific factors such as the company size. Furthermore, only a limited number of assessment systems address different levels of manufacturing systems, such as the factory level or the manufacturing line. This makes it challenging for companies to identify indicators that can be applied to a company-specific use case. This contribution presents a user-friendly procedure to support industry practitioners with selecting appropriate indicators. The procedure is supported with an indicator catalog consisting of 477 environmental and economic sustain-ability indicators and a selection guideline. The application is demonstrated through an exemplary use case. Finally, future research opportunities are proposed, such as integrating indicators that address the social dimension of sustainability.