Information and digital technologies of Industry 4.0 and Lean supply chain management: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Lean Management (LM) is an efficiency-oriented socio-technical management system whose main purpose is to eliminate any source of waste through the simultaneous reduction or minimization of the sources of internal and external variability (Womack, Jones, and Roos 1990;Shah and Ward 2007). The systematic reduction of these sources of variability at both the company level and throughout the supply chain enables business results to be improved and provides the ability to achieve a competitive advantage (Womack and Jones 1996; Moyano-Fuentes and Sacristán-Díaz 2012).On one hand, Supply Chain Management (SCM) has been used for planning and control of physical and information flows, internal and external logistics activities, and processes with other companies, and to address the relationship developed and the processes shared with customers and suppliers (Chen and Paulraj 2004; Kache and Seuring 2014). In recent years, SCM has come to be considered a key factor for increasing companies' efficacy and competitiveness (Frohlich and Westbrook 2001; Ataseven and Nair 2017). So, a suitable SCM strategy enables improvements to operating results in terms of greater efficiency in processes, a lower level of inventory, higher customer satisfaction, better quality, cost reductions, and improved delivery (Christopher and Towill 2000). This, along with an increase in global competitive pressure, has led to Lean principles spreading to the supply chain level with a view to optimizing interorganizational processes from the point-of-view of the end customer (Swenseth and Olson 2016). This has given rise to what is known as Lean Supply Chain Management (LSCM). LSCM consists of organizations directly linked by upstream and downstream flows of goods, services, finances, and information that work together to reduce costs and waste by efficiently and effectively pulling what is required to meet the

The complementary effect of lean manufacturing and digitalisation on operational performance

“…In light of the technological developments associated with Industry 4.0, the relationship between lean manufacturing and technology has again become an area of research interest (Buer, Strandhagen, and Chan 2018;Gupta, Modgil, and Gunasekaran 2020;Núñez-Merino et al 2020). Do emerging digital technologies, increased automation levels, and less dependence on human labour mean that lean manufacturing will now become obsolete?…”

The impact of information sharing on supply chain learning and flexibility performance

“…SC scholars argue that the learning process is related to flexibility performance (Santos-Vijande, López- Sánchez, and Trespalacios 2012). The acquisition of information and knowledge empowers firms to design production systems more flexible by better predicting and responding to the challenges of uncertain and dynamic environments (Huo, Gu, and Wang 2018;Núñez-Merino et al 2020;Santos-Vijande, López-Sánchez, and Trespalacios 2012). The ability to learn from SC partners can help firms remain flexible by maintaining a wider knowledge base and developing their core competencies to better manage their operations (Chan and Chan 2009;Willis, Genchev, and Chen 2016).…”

The emergent role of digital technologies in the context of humanitarian supply chains: a systematic literature review

“…In essence, it consists of categorizing and analysing the past, current, and future trends on a specific topic of discipline of science (Paré et al, 2015 ; Rowe, 2014 ; Snyder, 2019 ; Webster & Watson, 2002 ; Wolfswinkel et al, 2013 ). Over the years, multiple variations of SLR have been adapted within business and management research, particularly in the Operations and Suppmy Chain Management (OSCM) fields (Glock et al, 2017 ; Govindan et al, 2015 ; Govindan and Soleimaini, 2017 ) or HSC (Abidi et al, 2014 ; Dubey et al, 2019b ; Kovács & Spens, 2007 ), highlighting the importance of the relationship with DTs (Machado et al, 2019 ; Núñez-Merino et al, 2020 ; Pagliosa et al, 2019 ).…”