The Benefits in Coupling Exergy Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment in the Context of Sustainable Manufacturing for Industry 4.0: A Real Industrial Case

The continuously rising cost of energy and its impact on environmental policy are the primary boost for industry to stay global competitive in terms of maximizing productivity and raising operational costs. The prevailing goal in the height of industry 4.0 is to inspect and optimize manufacturing processes. The challenge is to consider thermodynamics as simulation and modelling solution that enables improve energy production and help efforts to shift towards a smart factory. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that using thermodynamic models as Exergy and Life Cycle thinking provides major benefits since it allows evaluation results more reliable and aims to develop a retrofitting approach that enhances the process to avoid system failures efficiently. Any practitioner may pick suitable sensing networks in line with Industry 4.0, in order to develop a monitoring and control infrastructure and improve any manufacturing system, getting it smarter. In this article, an explanatory case study on the production process of an Italian SME will be presented and discussed.