The focus of the course is to facilitate students to visualize their research project through systems perspective while understanding the inter-link between various sub-systems and then relating the project with different aspects of sustainable development. This includes a holistic perspective in understanding the UN sustainability goals in Agenda 2030.
The course includes the following themes:
- Sustainable development and sustainability goals and how these relate to the concepts discussed in the course and to the student's own research domain.
- Sustainability-related issues through a systems perspective, with special focus on circumstances that are relevant to industrial production systems.
- Sustainability as a practice and as performance measure in industrial production, while describing ISO, environmental certification, sustainability reporting, scenario analysis and LCA.
- Value creation through well-thought-out sustainability work in industrial production.
- Relationship between global sustainability challenges and manufacturing footprint – the local versus the global; goal conflicts; sustainability linked to logistics; life cycle analysis; location issues linked to industrial production; manufacturing network.
- Industry 4.0 and how advanced technology can be used in industrial production to contribute to the Global Goals in Agenda 2030.
- The impact of digitalisation on the production system in terms of sustainability and distributed manufacturing for circularity.
- Effects linked to information exchange between different actors and the need for transparency and visibility to ensure sustainability.