Decision support systems to facilitate circular economy at the supply chain level: a systematic literature review
The manufacturing industry fulfils essential societal needs, but it creates substantial environmental pressure. Decision support systems serve as valuable tools to steer manufacturing toward sustainability. However, manufacturers are currently limited to a structured decision-support system for integrating circular economy principles across the product, process, and system levels. This systematic literature review examines decision support systems for circular economy implementation in manufacturing through bibliometric and qualitative content analysis. The analysis reveals significant fragmentation: only 5% of studies integrate product, process, and system levels simultaneously, while 52% address a single level. The developed decision support systems were evaluated primarily by using life cycle assessment and life cycle costing. Digital technologies enable predictive capabilities, but implementation barriers remain substantial. Critical gaps include limited integration across decision levels, end-of-life bias, and inadequate focus on business model innovation. The discussion emphasises developing an integrated decision support system by converging system-level thinking with a circular economy framework and digital capabilities, creating an early-stage tool that provides feedback during design phases, and enabling organisations to proactively position sustainability.