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Environmental and economic sustainability assessment of an industry 4.0 application: the AGV implementation in a food industry

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Abstract

Industrial companies today are facing two important issues: the implementation of 4.0 technologies, that allow to automate and improve plant productivity, and the evaluation of more sustainable products and processes. In light of this, the present work aims at evaluating an industry 4.0 application, the automated guided vehicles (AGV), making considerations from a technological, environmental, economic, and social point of view. The case study is focused on the comparison between two scenarios in an Italian food company: the traditional past scenario, where three forklifts and manpower were used for managing the internal logistics of a production plant, and the current 4.0 scenario in which two AGV and an automatic system for controlling the shape and centring of pallets were introduced. Both solutions were environmentally compared with a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, by using the software SimaPro 9.1, while, as far as the economic assessment is concerned, a life cycle costing (LCC) was carried out. Furthermore, social considerations on workers’ conditions in the 4.0 scenario were made. The assessment results can be useful to companies which are considering introducing AGVs in material handling, and also contribute to the scientific literature: it is the first time that LCA and LCC, both tools approved by the European community, are used to assess AGVs. Overall, this research is a starting point for answering to the question: “Can the AGV implementation create a more sustainable scenario in the final logistics operations of a food industry?”.

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  1. Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 181/A, 43124, Parma, Italy

    Roberta Stefanini & Giuseppe Vignali

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  1. Roberta Stefanini
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Correspondence to Roberta Stefanini.

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Stefanini, R., Vignali, G. Environmental and economic sustainability assessment of an industry 4.0 application: the AGV implementation in a food industry. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 120, 2937–2959 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-022-08950-6

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