The goal of this article is to explore the link between lean and green management, reasons for their implementation, their effect throughout the whole life cycle, as well as the current state of use of lean tools, economic and environmental indicators in the context of Croatian manufacturing companies. A semi-structured interview was used in this research. As a result, the frequency of economic and environmental performance indicators and lean tools in Croatian companies has been defined, as well as the reasons for the implementation of lean management. Additionally, the understanding of the use of Life Cycle Assessment methods, environmental standards has been obtained and the integration of lean and green management in Croatian companies has been explored. Further on, results were compared to the similar study done in the UK. Finally, it can be concluded that the integration of lean and green management is not yet sufficiently present in manufacturing companies, although there are cases in which these two approaches are integrated, primarily in the process and food industry. It is for these reasons that in the integration of these two approaches lies great potential.

The digitization of the manufacturing industry, 10 years after the introduction of the Industry 4.0 concept, is still one of the most demanding tasks for the companies, especially for SMEs. As one of the biggest barriers in new business model implementation, the lack of strategy and workforce skills is frequently mentioned in the literature. The high level of investments it requires and the perception of high risks with unclear future benefits can be avoided with readiness factor calculation. This paper presents a novel model for readiness factor calculation, oriented to process planning and based on decision support systems. The model enables the definition of the optimal strategic plan for the digitization with the use of decision support systems (analytic hierarchy process) and through the use of statistical methods implemented within the model it minimizes the influence of human subjectivity and quantification of qualitative criteria. This innovative approach enables the understanding of the transition process to new technology-enabled business models, in this case oriented towards process planning. The useability and reliability of the model is proven in a case study of a metal machining company.

Accelerated technology developments caused by Industry 4.0 create problems in its implementation. One of the most important factors that hinder the transition of companies is ignorance and, therefore, the fear of new technologies present among employees. Learning factories have proven to be one of the best solutions for introducing employees to the technologies of Industry 4.0. Croatia is significantly behind in implementing the features of Industry 4.0, especially compared to more developed countries. To facilitate the transition of the Croatian industry to Industry 4.0, it is necessary to acquaint existing and future employees with its technologies through learning factories. There is currently only one learning factory in Croatia, which is too few. This paper presents the process of design and establishment of a learning factory at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in Zagreb, which facilitates research work and education of students and employees with Industry 4.0.

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Environmental sustainability of the transport sector is a highly important issue today. The European Commission has made a goal of delivering a minimum 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from transport by 2050. Part of this reduction will come from the railway sector by making the maintenance processes more environmentally friendly. This paper presents the results of the environmental assessment of the self-propelled bulk carriage (SPBC), an innovative new product aiming to decrease the environmental impact of the railway maintenance processes. The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was used in the study, and environmental impact is given in five impact categories based on the CML 2001 method through three main modules of the self-propelled bulk carriage life cycle: upstream, core, and downstream. The novelty of the research includes the fact that this is the first life cycle assessment study done for the bulk carriage, as well in that the authors have proposed the use of a new functional unit in the category of freight railway vehicles. The biggest environmental impact of the self-propelled bulk carriage across all five categories is in the use and maintenance phase of its life cycle and mainly due to diesel fuel use. The SPBC uses significantly less fuel than a conventional diesel locomotive.