A modelling-based sustainability assessment in manufacturing organisations: a 3D indicator-based model development

several tools and methodologies were developed for manufacturing organizations to assess and evaluate the sustainability performance of the manufacturing system to help them survive in today’s competitive market. However, the growing number of methods and tools, casts doubt upon the applicability, efficiency and capability of those methods by real manufacturing companies. Therefore, needs been felt for tools that offer a standard assessment of the sustainability performance of the organization with a systematic view of the whole system. On the other hand, tools are not only expected to qualitatively assess sustainability but to be capable of recognizing the opportunities that help manufacturers have a more sustainable organization. To that point, the focal point of the present study will be on the following questions: “how can we help manufacturing organizations in terms of assessing sustainability?” and “how can we help manufacturing organizations discover opportunities to reach a better state of sustainability?”. To be able to respond to the questions, a model-based sustainability assessment framework based on indicators is developed. In addition, the process of aggregating indicators to create a composite sustainability development index is fully scrutinized. The step-by-step procedure will be described, and the effectiveness of the proposed model will be examined by a real case company.