Implementing Zero Impact Factories in Volkswagen’s Global Automotive Manufacturing System: A Discussion of Opportunities and Challenges from Integrating Current Science into Strategic Management

Malte Gebler (), Jens Warsen, Roman Meininghaus, Meike Baudis, Felipe Cerdas and Christoph Herrmann
Additional contact information
Malte Gebler: Group Production Environmental Affairs, Volkswagen AG, 38440 Wolfsburg, Germany
Jens Warsen: Group Production Environmental Affairs, Volkswagen AG, 38440 Wolfsburg, Germany
Roman Meininghaus: Group Production Environmental Affairs, Volkswagen AG, 38440 Wolfsburg, Germany
Meike Baudis: Group Production Environmental Affairs, Volkswagen AG, 38440 Wolfsburg, Germany
Felipe Cerdas: Institute of Machine Tools and Production Technology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Christoph Herrmann: Institute of Machine Tools and Production Technology, Technische Universität Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 7, 1-29

Abstract: The current exceeding of six out of nine planetary boundaries requires a significant transition of human societies towards absolute sustainability. Industrial manufacturing systems were and still are an important motor for socio-economic development but at the cost of a significant negative impact on the biosphere. Current concepts in absolute sustainability and sustainable manufacturing provide solutions for sustainability transitions in industry, but various methodological, technical and procedural challenges arise during their adaptation in industrial practice. The development and operationalization of a “zero impact factory” strategy by Volkswagen Group has identified various implementational challenges, which are discussed in this article. First, an overview of motivations for “zero impact” transformations in industry are pointed out. Second, relevant aspects for the strategic management of sustainability transitions in manufacturing companies are highlighted based on a literature analysis. Third, the strategy development process is explained based on a systematic structure, which includes design-thinking principles for sustainability transitions of large technical systems such as factories in global manufacturing systems. Fourth, the developed strategy content is presented, including (1) the strategy vision, (2) the defined quantified “zero impact” goals, (3) a system model and a prototype of a zero impact factory, (4) the developed “Impact Points” and the “Site Checklist” methods (for evaluating the environmental transformation of a factory) and (5) the definition of processes for strategic management during strategy operationalization. Finally, various organizational challenges and opportunities are pointed out, which are considered novel insights from industrial practice and relevant for the science-based strategic management within automotive companies and other global industrial manufacturing organizations, as well for advancing sustainability concepts in applied industrial science.

Keywords: zero impact; automotive manufacturing; absolute (environmental) sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/7/3011/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/7/3011/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:7:p:3011-:d:1370211

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().