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This study explores the integration of sustainability in decision-making processes within a steel manufacturing company in Poland. As global clients increasingly demand sustainable practices, companies must adapt their operations to meet these expectations. We applied Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods, specifically TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution) and VIKOR (in Serbian: VlseKriterijuska Optimizacija I Komoromisno Resenje), along with three weighting techniques, namely Entropy, Standard Deviation, and CRITIC (Criteria Importance Through Inter-criteria Correlation), to evaluate the sustainability of four products. Nine criteria were considered, including material type, corrosion protection, surface treatment, and various manufacturing processes. Our findings reveal that the MCDA framework effectively ranks products from most to least sustainable, highlighting the importance of raw material efficiency and waste management. This research demonstrates the practical application of MCDA methods in assessing sustainability within the steel industry, providing a basis for future studies to extend this framework to other manufacturing sectors and regions. Overall, this approach supports informed decision-making, aligning with broader sustainability goals while satisfying the demands of business partners and clients.

Sustainability is understood as a balanced integration of economic, ecological, and social aspects. Sustainable manufacturing can be considered one of the most important issues to address in the pursuit of sustainable development. The main purpose of the paper is to identify the most important directions of research to date and to indicate new and emerging areas of research concerned with the usage of decision-making methods in sustainability assessment in steel manufacturing companies. A systematic review was based on the publications indexed in the Web of Science and Scopus databases. In the analysis, the correspondence analysis and log-linear model were applied. To sum up, this study examines decision-making modalities and sustainable performance in terms of approaches that influence sustainability in steel manufacturing. Firstly, the study determined key decision-making aspects, such as the appropriate material identification for the manufacturing process and material labeling for the manufacturing process, which is essential for sustainable metal products. Secondly, the identification of sustainability indicators is considered vital in the hierarchical process as their integration is essential for the decision-making process and its outcome. Furthermore, system efficiency and productivity, alongside increasing attention to environmental protection, have led to significant changes in all production systems. In addition, many factors play an important role in the selection of suppliers, such as increasing the importance of the environment, increasing the recycling rate of the products, and ensuring sustainability performance. However, companies in the steel manufacturing industry rely little on the application of decision-making to assess sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturing, as one of the main pillars of a civilized lifestyle, will be strongly affected by sustainability issues, and it will play an important role in establishing a sustainable future. Within the area of sustainability issues, some specific issues are pointed out, such as the energy and labor intensity of manufacturing processes. The main aims of this paper are a systematic literature review and the evaluation of the energy and labor intensity of manufacturing processes in an industrial enterprise while proposing changes toward sustainable development. In the research, 163 scientific publications (77 related to China) were taken from the Web of Science (WoS) database based on selected keywords describing the studied phenomenon. The analyzed publications were divided into five areas (clusters). In terms of evaluating the energy and labor intensity of manufacturing processes, twelve production processes were selected, which were then grouped according to their most important areas of similarity (automation, ergonomics, and discomfort). The systematic literature review was carried out using the VOSviewer software, version 1.6.14. This article also uses the methodology of a case study with a simplified SWOT analysis based on interviews with employees and expert panels. The subject of the research is an industrial enterprise representing the steel manufacturing sector in Poland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]