An integrated approach for analysing the enablers and barriers of sustainable manufacturing

Abstract Manufacturing performance is very crucial to the success of any organization. Hence, it becomes imperative for manufacturing industries to adopt sustainability measures considering their dependence on non-renewable resources along with the generation of a large amount of wastes. This study aims to propose comprehensive sustainability framework for manufacturing domain to strengthen the enablers and mitigate barriers based on the responses of researchers, and industry professionals. Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory approach has been applied to identify most influential factors amongst ten identified enablers and barriers in both the groups. Further, a scientific approach, Maximum Mean De-Entropy algorithm has been utilised to integrate the obtained results with Interpretive Structural Modeling based on threshold value to develop a hierarchical structure of the complex system. Finally, the study has been statistically validated for enablers and barriers by employing structural equation modeling based on the responses of both the groups. The obtained results are expected to highlight the underlying differences in their opinions which can be jointly worked upon to minimize this gap towards sustainability implementation.