The Role of Value Engineering in Sustainable Manufacturing Scheme: A Critical Review

The sustainable manufacturing principle seeks to manufacture products without polluting the environment, zero waste, and conserve energy and other manufacturing resources. However, achieving the sustainability objective is difficult because of the numerous activities involved in manufacturing throughput. Some bottlenecks associated with sustainable manufacturing implementation include lack of government support, public awareness about green products and sustainable manufacturing practices, clarity about hazardous waste, environmental programs and compliance, complexity in product and process design, financial constraints, and resistance to change. This paper aims to evaluate the current literature in the topic area to gain insight into the role of Value Engineering (VE) in achieving sustainable manufacturing objectives despite the numerous challenges associated with the scheme. Value Engineering (VE) techniques focus on exploring alternative materials and manufacturing methods to create products and values by ensuring a balance between the cost and functions of a product while conserving resources. The assessment established that digitisation of manufacturing processes encourages automation and integration using networking, such as cloud manufacturing, to streamline operations and enhance productivity with minimal environmental pollution. Also, a reduction in the ecological impact of manufacturing processes encourages sustainability. The information provided in this review will further assist the manufacturing industry in implementing good manufacturing programs that will strengthen the industry's overall performance.