Created: 2019-09-02. Last updated: 2021-10-12
MANIFESTO FOR an INDUSTRIAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Sustainability Circle is a politically independent think tank started by Swedish industry in 2010. Nowadays knowledge companies, universities, hospitals, public administrations also participate in the work. The mission is to develop a mindset for sustainable industrial development, strengthen our members' competitiveness and accelerate sustainable development.
Our time is characterized by a number of challenges for our operations. Probably the most important are:
• Stronger competition, partly due to globalization and demographics.
• New technology, especially in the form of digitalisation.
• Powerful demands on contributions from business and management to a globally sustainable ecological, social and economic development.
Businesses with focus on innovation, long term and life-cycle thinking is a response to these challenges.
There are many indications that companies that are fast changing and developing are acquiring significant competitive advantages. This applies, in particular, to production that must at all times be as "smart" as possible.
The maintenance function has experience and knowledge of what works, what doesn't and what makes the difference. The maintenance function thus has a natural relation to the work on industrial sustainability. An estimated 100,000 Swedes, including 10,000 managers, work on maintenance and are thus already financed. The manifesto shows how these can make even greater use.
The manifesto is brief. The reasoning behind the manifesto is explained in standalone articles and in the form of cases from our members.
The manifesto, as well as the articles, are subject to constant development. Thoughts and ideas are continuously added based on the work in the Sustainability Circle.
This manifesto recommends the following:
1. Establish upcycling as a method for industrial sustainable development.
2. Express the traditional maintenance function's responsibility for realizing a zero-failure vision. Manifest this by using the concept of Smart Maintenance.
3. Develop data-driven decision support systems that, with the help of technology markers, enable support for prediction, root-cause-of-error analysis and prescriptive measures.
4. Organize your business so that Smart Maintenance can easily cooperate with operations, R&D / design, purchasing, finance, HRM and IT. An improved internal integration.
5. Develop relations in the entire value network and enable strong external integration.
6. Train employees in Smart maintenance in (a) digital technology, (b) finance and (c) soft skills / change leadership. Support a management that is emphasizing life long learning .
7. Develop cooperation between industry, researchers and higher education.
8. Highlight use of technology and the engineering profession as methods for realizing sustainable development in the world.
9. Ensure high-quality and robust basic maintenance as a foundation for the development of Smart Maintenance.