A perspective on manufacturing strategy: Produce more with less

Over the last decade, the manufacturing landscape has changed worldwide. Parts of the traditional manufacturing activities have moved to world regions, away from the long-established industrial centres in Western Europe, North America and Japan. The demand for goods has been increased and so has the demand for natural resources and energy. However, since resources and energy are finite, new ways of producing more with less ought to be found. In this context, this work discusses the challenges to be addressed and focuses on the technologies, related to novel processes, materials and information/communication, which could deal with the issues pertaining to increased demand on manufacturing goods, the finite resources, and environment-conscious production.