Challenges and Benefits of Sustainable Industry 4.0 for Operations and Supply Chain Management—A Framework Headed toward the 2030 Agenda

Abstract

Currently, Industry 4.0 (I4.0) represents a worldwide movement to improve the productivity and efficiency of operations and supply chain management (OSCM), which requires rethinking and changing the mindset of the way in which products are manufactured and services are used. Although the concept of I4.0 was not popularised in the ratification of the 2030 Agenda, I4.0 is a watershed in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It can serve as a platform for the alignment of the SDGs with the ongoing digital transformation. However, the challenges to the integration of I4.0 and sustainability in OSCM, and the benefits of this integration, in line with the SDGs, remain unclear. Moreover, there is a lack of a standard structure that establishes links between these challenges and benefits to strategically guide organisations on the journey towards a sustainable OSCM 4.0 (S-OSCM4.0) aligned with the SDGs. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to propose an S-OSCM4.0 framework for organisations to attain sustainability and I4.0 in OSCM, in line with the 2030 Agenda. Based on a systematic literature review, 48 articles that complied with the selection criteria were analysed using content analysis. The research findings were synthesised into taxonomies of challenges and benefits, and these categories were linked into a step-by-step framework, following an inductive approach. The proposed framework represents a novel artefact that integrates taxonomies in order to holistically achieve sustainable digitalisation for people, prosperity and planet benefits, and sheds light on the potential contributions of S-OSCM4.0 to the SDGs.

Paradox of strategic partnerships for sustainable value chains: Perspectives of not‐for‐profit actors

“…Two themes, namely, supply-side and demand-side, may be used for product flow. Both literature review and cross-case findings support that collaboration is the primary key for interactions between working actors and not-for-profit actors that affect their partnership, and this is also based on good information sources from both actors and demand-side focused (Caiado et al, 2022;Francis, 2004;Taylor & Fearne, 2006;Taylor & Simons, 2004). Findings from cross cases analysis, summarized in Table 7, highlight that working actors' levelfocused and not-for-profit actor level-focused themes usually interact over the long term, and this interaction reflect a positive partnership approach.…”

Evaluation of modern technology on human resources management and sustainable development in Pharma industries

“…Sustainable development is critical to the functioning of modern enterprises. Sustainability initiatives enhance firm performance as well as provide a competitive advantage [4]. As a result, an increasing number of businesses increasingly becoming engaged in environmental issues, recognizing that environmental preservation serves as the best business interests.…”

Model development for assessing inhibitors impacting Industry 4.0 implementation in Indian manufacturing industries: an integrated ISM-Fuzzy MICMAC approach

“…IoT devices, CPS, cloud computing data storage, machine-to-machine communication, etc., running in real-time across integrated internet networks require high-speed seamless broadband internet access, thrusting the need for an efficient network (Akdil et al 2018 ; Tupa et al 2017 ). This real-time sharing of vast sensitive company data and exchanging information across the entire supply chain network gives rise to cybersecurity challenges and high-speed, low-latency internet bandwidth (Birkel et al 2019 ; Caiado et al 2022 ; Ivanov 2020 ). Lack of standardization and benchmarking of business operations is another challenge that technocrats and managers face while digitalizing the industry operations.…”