CONSIDERATION REGARDING THE TRANSITION TO SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING IN THE ROMANIAN SMEs

The 'environment' and 'manufacturing' are two important concepts that are getting a lot of attention these days. Today and in the near future, all the manufacturing organisations are facing growing pressure to become 'greener' or more environmentally friendly. Consequently, as a result of the EU environmental policy, companies must to review their production processes. In the case of large companies the transition to the sustainable manufacturing is much easier and quicker than for the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). But the Romanian industry is today dominated by SMEs and more than that, the vast majorities are in the manufacturing industry. In addition, EU study regarding the implications of European SMEs in the environmental issues show that in Romania 42% of the SMEs are complying with the environmental legislation and only 25% acting to be more resources efficient. Considering the importance of sustainable development, the main goal of this paper is to offer guidelines for the Romanian manufacturing SMEs to become sustainable by developing eco-innovative production systems.