Purpose: Sustainability in Supply Chain has become a significant concern for manufacturing firms which integrate economic, environmental and social issues. Thus, in order to achieve sustainability in manufacturing operations, sustainability needs to be incorporated in all stages of an organization's supply chain, in other words, manufacturers firms that are willing to achieve sustainability they must be aware of the importance of their partners’ sustainable responsibility.

To provide sustainable manufacturing, the procurement of sustainable components must be practiced through dealing with eligible sustainable suppliers. However, suppliers play an important role in sustainable manufacturing which lead to sustainable supply chain.

Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the suppliers’ selection criteria that must be followed in Ready Made Garments (RMG) manufacturing companies in order to achieve sustainable manufacturing which is highly recommended in the EU market as a large buyer from Egypt.

Design/methodology/approach: This research is a combination between exploratory, descriptive, and analytical research according to the research objectives. To achieve the research objectives, first, the researcher conducted extensive review of previous studies in supplier selection area. Then, conducted a case study which was used to identify and categorize the sustainable suppliers’ selection criteria in order to achieve sustainable manufacturing in real-life context. In particular, this case study was conducted in a large exporter RMG manufacturing company in Egypt which exports to European Union market. Semi-structured interviews conducted with the production executives.

Findings and Originality: Few previous studies have been conducted to address the sustainable suppliers’ selection criteria in RMG industry and their impact on sustainable manufacturing.

This study would attempt to fill this gap by identifying and categorize the suppliers’ selection criteria that must be used in Ready Made Garments (RMG) manufacturing companies in order to achieve sustainable manufacturing.

Research Impact: This study opens new path way for researches for further investigation in suppliers’ selection criteria towards sustainable manufacturing. It provides the literature by a list of the suppliers’ selection criteria in RMG industry which were recommended by a large RMG Egyptian exporter manufacturing company to EU.

Practical implications: This research would assist RMG manufacturer production managers especially in developing countries to determine the required suppliers’ selection criteria in order to produce sustainable product to be able to compete in exporting to the developed countries’ market.

Keywords

Sustainable Supply Chain, Suppliers’ selection criteria and Sustainable manufacturing.

Maha Morssi

Affiliation

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Sustainable Suppliers’ Selection in Ready-Made Garments:Toward Sustainable Manufacturing