Hotspot Identification for Improving Cane-Sugar Sustainable Supply Chain Through the Integration of Life Cycle Assessment and Value Stream Mapping

• Published in: PROCESS INTEGRATION AND OPTIMIZATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY
• Main Authors: Masudin, Ilyas; Alfarisi, Salman; Suhartin, Erna; Restuputri, Dian Palupi; Shariff, S. Sarifah Radiah
• Format: Article; Early Access
• Language: English
• Published: SPRINGERNATURE 2025
• Subjects: Science & Technology - Other Topics; Energy & Fuels; Engineering; Environmental Sciences & Ecology
• Online Access: https://www-webofscience-com.uitm.idm.oclc.org/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:001404831300001
• ISSN: 2509-4238; 2509-4246
• DOI: 10.1007/s41660-025-00486-y

Life cycle assessment (LCA) and value stream mapping (VSM) are pivotal tools for advancing sustainability in cane sugar manufacturing. LCA enables manufacturers to make informed decisions that minimize their environmental footprint. Value stream mapping, on the other hand, provides a detailed visualization of the entire production process, highlighting areas of inefficiency and waste. While prior studies have extensively explored the individual applications of LCA and VSM in assessing environmental impacts and optimizing production processes, there is a need for more integrated research that combines the strengths of both methodologies. Furthermore, this study could thus explore the environmental, social, and economic issues and identify the potential pain reliever by implementing LCA and VSM practices in the cane-sugar supply chain. This study highlights opportunities to enhance the sustainability performance of the cane sugar industry's supply chain and offers a systematic framework. The findings indicate that the main impact category that needs to be improved is marine aquatic ecotoxicity. In addition, two strategies for determining the sustainability performance level were suggested. The ability to identify key hotspots of a process is the strength of the LCA-SVSM developed in this study.