The Twin Transition Journey of Manufacturing SMEs

This book provides a novel, structured approach that brings digitalisation and sustainability together within a single decision-support framework. It explores how manufacturing SMEs can navigate the twin transition by identifying the critical success factors that drive transformation and by introducing a comprehensive Twin Transition Maturity Model that allows organisations to assess both their current and desired levels of development. Industry is entering a new era in which digital transformation and sustainability are no longer separate ambitions but must progress together. For manufacturing Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), this dual challenge, known as the twin transition, has become essential for competitiveness, resilience and long-term viability. Yet most existing research and practical frameworks treat digitalisation and sustainability as independent transformation processes, offering limited guidance on how SMEs can manage them simultaneously. Going beyond traditional maturity assessments, this book presents an ontology-enabled prescriptive approach that transforms evaluation results into tailored, step-by-step improvement pathways. Conceptual frameworks, visual models and structured tables help clarify complex relationships, while a web-based decision-support tool demonstrates how the proposed approach can be implemented in practice. By bridging theory and application, this book offers a practical roadmap for managing digital and sustainable transformation together. It provides valuable insights for SME managers, policymakers, consultants and researchers interested in sustainable manufacturing, digital transformation and innovation in industrial systems.