Identification of Barriers to Sustainable Manufacturing Implementation—The Perspective of Manufacturers of Parts and Components for Agricultural Transport

Abstract

Sustainable manufacturing involves executing manufacturing processes in a way that follows the sustainable development principles, striving to combine economic, ecologic and social goals. The expected benefits of sustainable manufacturing are a lower cost and an improved environmental impact and well-being of employees. The main goal of the research was to identify barriers to the implementation of sustainable manufacturing principles. Achieving the main goal required the implementation of partial goals: (G1) designing the research tool based on the specific features of sustainable manufacturing identified based on the literature research; (G2) identifying of barriers that limit and/or prevent the implementation of sustainable manufacturing; and (G3) assessing the significance of individual factors limiting (preventing) implementation. The research was conducted in the agricultural transport sector and the subjects of the research were manufacturers of parts and subassemblies for agricultural transport. The ranking of limitations and barriers enables the definition of recommendations for companies willing to implement sustainable manufacturing concepts.