Collaborative Networks: A Pillar of Digital Transformation

Abstract

The notion of digital transformation encompasses the adoption and integration of a variety of new information and communication technologies for the development of more efficient, flexible, agile, and sustainable solutions for industrial systems. Besides technology, this process also involves new organizational forms and leads to new business models. As such, this work addresses the contribution of collaborative networks to such a transformation. An analysis of the collaborative aspects required in the various dimensions of the 4th industrial revolution is conducted based on a literature survey and experiences gained from several research projects. A mapping between the identified collaboration needs and research results that can be adopted from the collaborative networks area is presented. Furthermore, several new research challenges are identified and briefly characterized. Author Contributions: Conceptualization, L.M.C.-M.; methodology, L.M.C.-M. and R.F.; writing-drafting Section 3, R.F. and L.M.C.-M.; writing-drafting Section 4, F.F. and L.M.C.-M.; writing-drafting Sections 5 and 7, L.M.C.-M.; writing-drafting Section 6, J.R. and L.M.C.-M.; writing-inputs for Sections 1 and 8, all authors; writing-reviewing and editing, all authors; funding acquisition, L.M.C.-M.Funding: This work was funded in part by the Portuguese "Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia" "Strategic program UID/EEA/00066/2019" (CTS project), by the SOCOLNET society (ARCON-ACM project), and by the project POCI-01-0247-FEDER-033926 (Future Yammi).

Mapping Industry 4.0 Enabling Technologies into United Nations Sustainability Development Goals

“…While the former characterizes by an intense interaction among participants to reach a common goal, the latter characterizes as a strategic alliance to act as a source breeding environment for the former, aiming to provide supportive networks [123]. Research in CNs are directed towards human-machine and machine-machine collaboration, development of collaboration platforms, enhancing resilience and sustainability, and building collaboration culture and awareness [124].…”

Industry 4.0 Accelerating Sustainable Manufacturing in the COVID-19 Era: Assessing the Readiness and Responsiveness of Italian Regions

“…This is true especially for horizontal integration, like networking along the value chain from suppliers to customers. Such integration should be based on a reliable infrastructure supporting collaboration between manufacturing organizations and partners who can communicate and share information in real-time [52]. Furthermore, a collaborative supply chain in manufacturing may contribute to meet the requirements of sustainability in the sector [53].…”

“…These collaborative networks could be beneficial for SMEs, which are facing challenges in finding financial and knowledge resources for integrating I4.0 technologies and sustainable practices [55]. The need to share and combine knowledge and resources corresponds to important components of collaboration [52].…”

Transformation of Distribution Logistics Management in the Digitalization of the Economy

“…in distribution channels to the "demand response" mode [37]. An important driver of the transformation of distribution logistics management priorities is the tendency to translate classical transaction operations into the digital dimension [38]. Additionally, it is advisable to pay special attention to ensuring business continuity in distribution channels [39].…”