Towards a Sustainability Framework for Operations Management Implementation in the Manufacturing Sector

Industries worldwide are becoming sustainability-driven, creating a new business model called sustainable manufacturing. These contemporary organisations are adopting sustainable practices, and sustainability in operations management has emerged as a voice to include the environment and society in our operations. Sustainability is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs, and no organisation is exempt in this regard. Henceforth, to be competitive in the local and international marketplaces, organisations seek to develop exceptional improvement and consequently improve the organisation’s performance. However, theoretically, a consensus has yet to be reached concerning the ideal framework to implement these sustainability practices. This chapter speaks to an emergent literature on a sustainability framework for operations management implementation, considering operations management, operations improvement and sustainability. It focuses on the manufacturing sector in South Africa to identify what constitutes an ideal framework to implement sustainability initiatives. In reviewing the literature, it was found that research on the sustainability framework tends to consider just one or two of the three dimensions of sustainability.