Recent Advances of AI for Sustainable Smart Manufacturing

Fourth Industrial Revolution", "4IR", or "Industry 4.0" is a buzzword and neologism describing rapid technological advancement in the 21st century. The term was popularised in 2016 by Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum founder and executive chairman, who says that the changes show a significant shift in industrial capitalism.

A part of this phase of industrial change is the joining of technologies like artificial intelligence, gene editing, to advanced robotics that blur the lines between the physical, and digital worlds. Throughout this, fundamental shifts are taking place in how the global production and supply network operates through ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices, using modern smart technology, large-scale machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, and the Internet of things (IoT). This integration results in increasing automation, improving communication and self-monitoring, and the use of smart machines that can analyse and diagnose issues without the need for human intervention.

This article collection aims to provide a platform to exchange and share ideas in the latest research findings on these cutting-edge developments. The topics include, but are not limited to: • Review on AI in sustainable smart manufacturing; • AI for Green/low-carbon design and manufacturing; • AI-driven optimization for sustainable resource management; • Large Language Models driven decision-making for sustainable manufacturing; • Knowledge Graphs for manufacturing/remanufacturing process planning; • Explainable Artificial Intelligence enabled manufacturing process monitoring and control; • AI-driven energy consumption prediction and optimization; • Deep learning for production logistics optimization; • Robotics and autonomous systems for sustainable smart manufacturing; • AI in manufacturing, remanufacturing and additive manufacturing