Sustainability in the Automotive tire supply chain: a state of the art

The theme of sustainability is becoming increasingly important in today’s industry, and even more in the automotive which is of the sectors that contributes to a large share of global pollution. This paper discusses different types of approach that companies implement to address sustainability issues in the supply chain in the automotive industry, with a particular focus on the tire manufacturing sector. The methodology used was a literature review and content analysis carried out by relying on the Scopus database as main source of scientific works in April 2023. The selected papers have been published from 2009 until today and treat environmentally friendly supply chain studies belonging to different parts of the world. A sustainable supply chain is one that tries to limit, in all its phases, the unfavorable environmental and social impact, including activities as the manufacture of a product and its storage until delivery to the customer. The strategies adopted by companies to achieve sustainability objectives in the supply chain have been grouped into four main classes: Closed-Loop Supply Chain approach, Green Supply Chain Management and related practices, new emerging technologies and sustainable supplier selection and development approach. The aim of the study is to find interconnections between these different approaches, identifying patterns and trends across the industry. The results show how the efforts to reach sustainability goals across the supply chain in the automotive industry are constantly increasing, even if especially in the case studies related to developing countries is clear that much more must be done. However, that counter-intuitively to what people may think, the adoption of these techniques to reach a desired level sustainability is not feasible for all companies, given the high costs and visible economic results not in a short period of time, but rather in the long period. In addition, the findings reveal that emerging technologies as AI, Additive Manufacturing, Blockchain are being used more consistently in the sector. Focusing on the tire industry, the results display that the CLSC approach is widely embraced with the disposal, retreading and recycling phase of the chain gaining a central role in the strategy of tire manufacturers. Future research should be done narrowing the perimeter maybe to some minor context or in different sectors. It might be interesting also to investigate more deeply the use of a determinate technology or a practice across the industry.