Principles of Management Systems for Positive Impact Factories

The sustainable design of production systems is essential for the industry’s future viability. In this context, the concept of positive impact factories has recently evolved, striving for a completely loss-free factory benefiting positively its surroundings. To establish a holistic view of this approach in everyday corporate life, it is necessary to develop a management policy with defined process flows in the sense of a dedicated management system. This paper thus reviews the scientific literature on (sustainable) management systems and develops a tailored management system for the example of the ultra-efficiency factory. In doing so, we specifically combine and complement established management systems such as environmental, energy and quality management, as well as compliance, maintenance, and lean management. In order to define an applicable framework, the basic considerations presented here were developed in cooperation with and reviewed by a large German automotive supplier. Thereupon, the results are discussed with regard to the future implementation of the system, and starting points for future research are derived.