Challenge of Sustainability

Challenge of Sustainability
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The emergent evolution of the industrial and production processes termed industry 4.0, as well as its associated technologies, including big data analytics, cyber-physical systems, and the Internet of Things, among others, still impart unknown possible ramifications on the environment and sustainability within the next two decades. Indeed, the industry has significantly contributed to societal wellness and sustainability via high-quality products that meet human needs and guarantee a safe working environment for employees. However, the trend of today’s production fails to achieve environmental sustainability needs. This paper reflects on pessimistic and optimistic scenarios delineating the sustainability challenge, forces impacting each scenario, and their implications.
The sustainability implications and issues of Industry 4.0 can be understood based on pessimistic and optimistic long-term and deployment scenarios. The long-term scenario entails prospective appraisal or projection of potential negative and positive terms, including the burgeoning ramifications of sustainability impacts. The pessimistic view emanates from the possible adverse situation that Industry 4.0 technologies might encounter due to environmental requirements and pressures. The deployment scenario is more optimistic because it details the advancement of the contemporary industry thresholds to industry 4.0 thresholds. This entails the infrastructure to implant essential elements to attain the operational context (Bonilla et al., 2018). Therefore, the deployment scenario implies the previous high automation level is required to achieve industry 4.0 sustainable flexibility and productivity.
There are various forces impacting deployment and long-run scenarios. Regarding the deployment scenario, advancing the contemporary industrial threshold to the industry 4.0 sustainability level would require digitization, automation, and integration. Based on the life cycle perspective, extensive adoption of Industry 4.0 tools would entail using raw materials, fuels, and water to facilitate the manufactur...