Industry 4.0 − challenges to implement circular economy

Profile of Bioactive Components of Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) By-Products from Ecuador and Evaluation of Their Antioxidant Activity

The aim of the study was to determine the profile of bioactive compounds in cocoa residues (mucilage and bean shells), and to evaluate their antioxidant activity in two cocoa varieties, Nacional X Trinitario type (Fine Aroma) and the variety CCN-51. The extraction of phytonutrients from the residues was carried out selectively. The characterization and quantification of the total polyphenol content (TPC), and the total flavonoid content (TFC) were determined by UV-VIS spectrophotometry. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine the phenolic profile and methylxanthines. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by the methods of 2-azinobis (3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) cation bleaching (ABTS), ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). The exudate mucilage samples from Nacional X Trinitario-type cocoa presented the highest content of TPC 105.08 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/100 mL, TFC 36.80 mg catechin equivalents (CE)/100 mL, catechin (CAT) 35.44 mg/g, procyanidins (PCB2: 35.10; PCB1: 25.68; PCC1: 16.83 mg/L), epicatechin (EPI) 13.71 mg/L, caffeine (CAF) 0.90% and theobromine (TBR) 2.65%. In the cocoa bean shell, the variety CCN-51 presented a higher content of TPC (42.17 mg GAE/100 g) and TFC (20.57 mg CE/100 g). However, CAT (16.16 mg/g), CAF (0.35%) and TBR (1.28%) were higher in the Nacional X Trinitario cocoa type. The EPI presented no significant differences between the two samples studied (0.83 and 0.84 mg/g). The antioxidant activity values (ABTS, FRAP and ORAC methods) were higher in the samples of CCN-51 than in the Nacional X Trinitario type. The bean shell samples presented antioxidant values of 171.32, 192.22 and 56.87 mg Trolox equivalents (TE)/g, respectively, and the bean shell samples presented antioxidant values of 167.06, 160.06 and 52.53 mg TE/g, respectively. The antioxidant activity (ABTS, FRAP and ORAC) of the residues was correlated with the bioactive compounds of the mucilage and bean shells, showing a strong positive correlation (<0.99) with the procyanidins (B1, B2 and C1), EPI and CAT and a positive/moderate correlation (0.94) with methylxanthines.

Industry 4.0: critical investigations and synthesis of key findings

The concept of Industry 4.0 has been one of the most debated and trending topics over the last few years. Progressively, it has attracted the attention of academicians, practitioners, and policymakers worldwide. However, there needs to be more systematic review of research in the current literature that captures the current state of this new paradigm. This study aims to address this gap by conducting a comprehensive review of Industry 4.0 previous studies to identify its technological, organisational, and managerial enablers, as well as its implementation challenges and benefits. A systematic literature review was conducted, in which 244 peer-reviewed journal papers were analysed in the Scopus database until the end of May 2022. This study excluded conference papers, book chapters, and journal papers not written in English. The study indicated that industry 4.0 is still an immature topic, and applying this new paradigm is not a matter of technology only. Organisational and managerial aspects should be considered. Additionally, the transition towards Industry 4.0 is a complex task, many obstacles exist, and manufacturing companies should be aware of these challenges for successfully implementing this new paradigm. The obtained results in this study synthesise recent studies published on Industry 4.0 and provide a comprehensive picture of Industry 4.0 and potential research directions for future research. Also, this study offers significant guidelines for managers interested in implementing Industry 4.0.

Adoption of modern technologies for implementing industry 4.0: an integrated MCDM approach

Purpose

Modern technologies are seen as an essential component of the fourth industrial revolution (industry 4.0) and their adoption is vital to transform the existing manufacturing system into industry 4.0-based manufacturing system. Therefore, the primary objective of this research explores the barriers of modern technology adoption and their mitigating solutions in order to align with Industry 4.0 objectives.

Design/methodology/approach

Barriers to adopting modern technologies and respective mitigating solutions are identified from the available literature. Further, these barriers are ranked with the help of expert opinions by using the BWM method appropriately. The identified solutions are ranked using the combined compromise solution (CoCoSo) method.

Findings

Several modern technologies and their capabilities are recognised to support the industry 4.0-based manufacturing systems. This study identifies 22 barriers to the effective adoption of modern technologies in manufacturing and 14 solutions to overcome these barriers. Change management, the high initial cost of technology and appropriate support infrastructure are the most significant barriers. The most prominent solutions to overcome the most considerable barriers are ‘supportive research, development and commercialisation environment’, ‘updated policy and effective implementation’ and ‘capacity building through training’ that are the top three solutions that need to be addressed.

Research limitations/implications

The barriers and solutions of modern technology adoption are obtained through a comprehensive literature review, so there is a chance to ignore some significant barriers and their solutions. Furthermore, ranking barriers and solutions is done with expert opinion, which is not free from biases.

Practical implications

This identification and prioritisation of barriers will help managers to understand the barriers so they can better prepare themselves. Furthermore, the suggested solutions to overcome these barriers are helpful for the managers and could be strategically adopted through optimal resource utilisation.

Originality/value

This study proposes a framework to identify and analyse the significant barriers and solutions to adopting modern technologies in the manufacturing system. It might be helpful for manufacturing organisations that are willing to transform their manufacturing system into industry 4.0.

Unlocking Barriers to Circular Economy: An ISM-Based Approach to Contextualizing Dependencies

Despite it being imperative to a sustainable development, a circular economy remains scarcely adopted by companies. Barriers towards this are extensively explored yet with little focus on their mutual dependencies. Neglecting dependencies is argued to cause suboptimization and lead to unsuccessful circular projects. To counter this and strengthen companies in assessing dependencies among context-dependent barriers towards a circular transition, this study proposes a practice-oriented approach based on an interpretive structural modelling methodology. This is validated through a case study with a Danish mechatronics manufacturer with which fourteen semi-structured interviews, a survey, and a workshop were conducted. Findings reveal an interwoven network of barriers with numerous chain mechanisms across managerial, market-related, financial, technical, and regulative aspects, which underpins the need to approach the circular transition systemically. Furthermore, the study demonstrates the ability of the methodology to facilitate discussions and assist industrial practitioners, both on a strategic and operational level, in systematically untangling the complex interrelations to identify root causes for inertia and prioritize mitigation measures.

Examining Knowledge Diffusion in the Circular Economy Domain: a Main Path Analysis

The circular economy (CE) field has recently attracted significant interest from academics and practitioners. CE represents a departure from the linear economy, which is characterised by unsustainable resource production and consumption. The growing number of publications necessitates a comprehensive analysis of this field. This is the first systematic examination of the knowledge base and knowledge diffusion pathways in the CE domain. We analyse a Web of Science dataset containing 5431 articles published between 1970 and 2020. To create a comprehensive review of the CE domain, we conducted a keyword co-occurrence network analysis. We examined four distinct types of main paths using the main path analysis (MPA) technique: forward, backward, global, and key-route. According to the analyses, CE research focuses on six primary research themes: CE and sustainability, bioeconomy, CE practices, lifecycle assessment and industrial symbiosis, construction activities, and waste management. In addition, the MPA demonstrates that the CE literature has recently focused on Industry 4.0 technologies and their contribution to CE. This is the first attempt to depict the genealogy of CE research so that scholars can comprehend the domain's evolutionary structure, identify hot topics, and capture the history, development status, and potential future directions of CE research.

Exploring Key Decisive Factors in Manufacturing Strategies in the Adoption of Industry 4.0 by Using the Fuzzy DEMATEL Method

Globalization has created a highly competitive and diverse market, an uncertain and risky business environment, and changing customer expectations. An effective manufacturing strategy reduces complexity and provides organizations with a well-organized manufacturing structure. However, existing research on manufacturing strategies appears scattered, lacking systematic understanding and finding no causal relationship between manufacturing strategies’ outputs (MSOs) and their importance. Therefore, this study is a pioneer in identifying the influential factors of MSOs in the adoption of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies utilizing the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) approach. This method is considered an effective method for identifying the cause-effect relationship of complex problems. It evaluates interdependent relationships among MSO factors from the perspective of academic and industry experts. Identifying cause and effect factors leads to increasing the market’s competitiveness and prioritizing them. To deal with the vagueness of human beings’ perceptions, this study utilizes fuzzy set theory and the DEMATEL method to form a structural model. Results show that customer satisfaction, cost per unit produced, and the number of advanced features are the main factors influencing MSOs.

Adoption of technological innovation and recycling practices in automobile sector: under the Covid-19 pandemic

Rising environmental concerns and globalization of supply chain made their control and management difficult. Blockchain technology, as a distributed digital ledger technology, guarantees security, visibility, traceability, and transparency promises ease for environmental and global supply chain problems. In this research work, blockchain technology and business analytics techniques were critically analyzed in the context of supply chain. Global and local governmental bodies, consumers, and communities are putting pressure to meet sustainability goals, which prompts us to investigate how these technologies can address and aid remanufacturing and recycling practices and sustainability in supply chain. The results illustrate that advanced technologies have a key role in the implementation of remanufacturing and recycling practices. The results also indicate that the remanufacturing and recycling practices substantially improve automobile firm performance. Moreover, the results also indicated that Covid-19 pandemic has positive moderating effect between advanced technology and remanufacturing and recycling practices while having insignificant effect between remanufacturing and recycling practices and automobile firm performance.

Future research avenues at the nexus of circular economy and digitalization

Purpose

The authors posit that one of the key enablers of the circular economy will be the digital transformation – in other words, “digitalization.” In this study, the authors examine and visualize the interaction of the circular economy and digitalization by using scientific publications. They explore possible synergies and future research avenues at this junction.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors first apply bibliometrics to explore and visualize the relationships between the circular economy and digitalization in the academic literature. Following the clustering of topics, they define key emerging factors for each cluster. Based on this analysis, they suggest future research avenues.

Findings

The authors find that there are four main clusters at the junction of circular economy and digitalization, including (1) sharing economy, (2) additive manufacturing, (3) business models and (4) industrial ecology and remanufacturing. They then dig deeper into these topics to better understand what factors would shape the future of the clusters. They conclude that sharing economy perspective and additive manufacturing may be enhanced by regulation-based and behavioral change-based approaches. Circular business models should be developed to maintain circularity in industry. Finally, digital manufacturing should be implemented within the framework of industrial ecology and remanufacturing principles to increase efficiency, productivity and traceability in the circular economy.

Originality/value

Digitalization offers significant potentials toward breakthrough sustainability by creating a circular economy. Hence, understanding the relationship between circular economy and digitalization is important to achieve sustainable development goals.

Exploring the Impact of “Double Cycle” and Industrial Upgrading on Sustainable High-Quality Economic Development: Application of Spatial and Mediation Models

In the context of the integration into the world economy, the domestic and international cycles of the economy constitute the basic pattern of economic operation. This pattern is closely related to the industrial structure, and obviously it can affect quality of the economic development. The Chinese government has put forward an international and domestic dual cycle strategy for reinforcing an environmentally sustainable high-quality economic development. Similarly, it seems critically important to explore what impact the “dual cycle strategy” and industrial upgrading will have on the environmentally sustainable high-quality economic development. To do so, this paper adopted a dataset ranging from the year 2004 to 2019 from a regional perspective in China, and an empirical research is carried out based on the spatial Dubin model-mediation effect model to analyze the impact of “dual cycle strategy” and industrial upgrading on environmentally sustainable high-quality economic development. The results of the study show that the rising industrial structure effect has emerged prominently. Both the “dual cycle” and industrial structure upgrading have a positive spillover effect on environmentally sustainable high-quality economic development. Further, the direct effect of domestic circulation is significant, but the indirect effect is not obvious. In addition, we found that the direct and indirect effects of international circulation are both significantly positive; industrial upgrading has a partial mediating effect in the “double cycle”. The study holds promising implications for a policy development.

Coordination of Digital Transformation in International Manufacturing Networks—Challenges and Coping Mechanisms from an Organizational Perspective

Coordinating the digital transformation of globally dispersed factories within international manufacturing networks has become a critical issue for competitiveness, yet there has been limited attention paid to this issue in previous research. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to, from an organizational perspective, explore the challenges in coordinating the digital transformation in an international manufacturing network and the coping mechanisms to overcome those challenges. A case study is conducted in a manufacturing company within the heavy vehicle industry, thus contributing to the limited empirical research covering coordination of digital transformation. The data is analyzed through organizational structure and design theory, and the findings are mapped into four core dimensions: differentiation, integration, centralization, and formalization. The results show 15 challenges and 11 coping mechanisms for coordination of digital transformation in international manufacturing networks, identifying the significance of the coordination uncertainty within the formalization dimension that is particularly exposed to the changes induced by digital transformation. The findings include the need for a coordination-oriented organizational structure that incorporates how and where coordination can be actualized. The research implications contribute with new insights by providing a detailed description of the created organizational structure and, in contrast to previous research, focuses specifically on the coordination aspect of digital transformation in an international manufacturing network.

The transition towards circular economy and waste within accounting and accountability models: a systematic literature review and conceptual framework

A transition towards a circular economy is a challenge. It is vital to know that circularity and sustainability are two different segments. So, circular economy can only be achieved in the long-term perspective. This study investigates accounting and accountability for circular economy and waste. Considering these principles and based on a critical review of the literature, economic gains from the transition toward a circular economy are measurable; the problems for corporations and governments are diverse; the way to handle the stakeholders who are losing control in the circular economy is considerable. Diffusion of innovation theory is used to conduct this study. It is essential that an organisational design built should help implement the circular model. Targeted questions responded by adopting a systematic literature review approach by applying PRISMA protocol. This study examines 78 publications in English between 2012 and 2021, which present a map of the circular economy-related knowledge published in web of science and Scopus. Besides, this study includes 03 European Commission reports, 01 Ellen Macarthur Foundation report, 01 Council for the Environment and Infrastructure report, 01 report from SUN IZA, 01 UN Global Compact and 01 the Brundtland Commission report. The results highlight how circular economy, waste management, sustainability, accountability, and management accounting practices help to develop an ecosystem and achieve sustainable development goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Cyber-Physical Systems as an Enabler of Circular Economy to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals: A Comprehensive Review

Industrialization has brought wealth, prosperity, and abundance to many nations. However, it has had many drawbacks on people’s health and the environment. Several paradigms have been proposed and implemented in an effort to suppress and reverse the adverse impacts of human activities and industrialization. A popular approach that serves as a solution to many of the negative implications of industry today is the circular economy (CE). With today’s top-notch technologies, the transition from the conventional linear economy to CE has been made easier. For example, the implementation of cyber-physical systems (CPSs), an Industry 4.0 (I4.0) tool, within a CE can substantially increase efficiency and reduce waste. This work presents a thorough review on the applications of cyber-physical systems within each of the CE stages, the contribution of different CPS technologies to the sustainable development goals (SDGs), and the current state of the CE assessment tools. The contribution of different CPS tools to each CE stage is demonstrated through several practical examples. In addition, this work reveals how the different CPS technologies applications contribute to the attainment of different SDGs set by the United Nations. It is also deduced from the review of the current state of the CE assessment tools that there is a need for a standardized comprehensive CE measuring or rating system to allow businesses on the micro, meso, and macro levels of the economy improve their circulatory.

Inhibitors of Industry 4.0 and Circular Economy in Manufacturing Industry Supply Chains

Circular economy (CE) and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) are clearly gaining popularity around the world because to their ability to integrate breakthrough technology with unique circular production and business models. This study conducted a systematic literature review, followed by expert intervention, to identify the 16 inhibitors hindering the implementation of a combination of CE practices and I4.0 technologies in the manufacturing industry supply chain. This paper has used ISM, Fuzzy MICMAC, and Fuzzy AHP approach to analyse the interrelationship among inhibitors and highlight the most critical of them. The findings of the paper suggest ‘missing competitive leadership and ‘lack of capital' are the most critical inhibitors, hindering the implementation of I4.0 and CE approach, depriving the manufacturing sector from enormous incentives. This one-of-a-kind original research paper is a holistic attempt to highlight the key elements of manufacturing and production supply chain. The results of the study will help the SCM companies to devise the strategies for achieving excellence.

Sustainable Manufacturing 4.0—Pathways and Practices

The manufacturing industry has undergone numerous revolutions over the years, with a unanimous acceptance of the greater benefits of being sustainable. The present industrial wave—Industry 4.0—by using its enabling technologies and principles holds great potential to develop sustainable manufacturing paradigms which require balancing out the three fundamental elements —products, processes, and systems. Yet, numerous stakeholders, including industrial policy and decision makers, remain oblivious of such potential and requirements. Thus, this bibliometric study is aimed at presenting an overview of the broad field of research on the convergence of sustainable manufacturing and Industry 4.0 under the umbrella of “Sustainable Manufacturing 4.0”, which has yet to be developed. It includes the dissemination of original findings on pathways and practices of Industry 4.0 applied to the development of sustainable manufacturing, contributing a bibliometric structure of the literature on the aforementioned convergence to reveal how Industry 4.0 could be used to shift the manufacturing sector to a more sustainable-based state. An initial research agenda for this emerging area has accordingly been presented, which may pave the way for having a futuristic view on Sustainable Manufacturing 5.0 in the next industrial wave, i.e., Industry 5.0.

Supply chain resilience and industry 4.0: a evaluation of the Brazilian northeast automotive OEM scenario post COVID-19

COVID-19 outbreak has heavily impacted the manufacturing industry, including Brazilian Automotive Industry. The effects of COVID-19 created restrictions in several industry processes as supply chain. On the other hand, several industry 4.0 technologies is able to support the industry supply chain activities in the COVID 19 scenarios, as well it may contributed for the automotive industry recovery and it will define the next steps of this industry. A supply chain is a network between a company and its suppliers to produce and distribute a specific product to the final buyer. Industry 4.0 is related to the technology development and the digitalization process that improve significantly productivity. Considering the automotive process, an important reference model is described in Advanced Product Quality Planning and Control Plan, that is a manual that communicate the guidelines of the product quality planning and control plan for internal and external suppliers. In this scenario, this paper evaluated the current situation and the future outlook for the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in the automotive OEM post-pandemic scenario on the point of view of automotive specialists. The results of this research provide an overview of the current situation and the future outlook for the usage of Industry 4.0 technologies by the Brazilian Northeast automotive OEM, from the perspective of manufacturing engineering experts on APQP.

Microencapsulation of Phenolic Extracts from Cocoa Shells to Enrich Chocolate Bars

Cocoa bean shells were subjected to green extraction technologies, based on the absence of toxic organic solvents, to recover polyphenols; the extract was then encapsulated using a spray dryer and maltodextrin as coating agent. The best conditions observed in the spray drying tests (core-to-coating ratio 1:5; inlet temperature 150 °C; flow rate 6 ml min^-1) were applied to produce the microcapsules used to enrich the same cocoa mass as the shells and processed for the preparation of the chocolate bars. Sensory analysis showed no significant differences between enriched chocolate bar and the unenriched reference one, except for the appearance. Both samples were then subjected to accelerated storage tests, at the end of which the polyphenols in the control chocolate bar (0.85 g 100 g^-1) were reduced by about 50% (0.42 g 100 g^-1), while in the enriched chocolate (1.17 g 100 g^-1) by only 22% (0.97 g 100 g^-1). The proposed process significantly enriched the chocolate bars with phenolic antioxidants recovered from cocoa waste without increasing the sensations of bitterness and astringency.

Conception of circular economy obstacles in context of supply chain: a case of rubber industry

Purpose

Adopting the circular economy (CE) notion in the supply chain perspective is necessary for the sustainability viewpoint. However, such practices are deficient, especially in developing countries like India, because of several obstacles. The purpose of this study was to create an approach for circular supply chain management (CSCM) adaption in Indian rubber industries by identifying and evaluating its associated obstacles.

Design/methodology/approach

A hybrid approach of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the grey-based ELECTRE method had been employed in this research to obtain the mutual rankings of the identified obstacles based on their impressions on the CSCM prosperity criteria through a case study and involving diverse expert's opinions.

Findings

Presented study's findings illustrate that “Lack of consumer knowledge and consciousness towards environmental sustainability” was found to be the top-ranked obstacle followed by “Unwillingness towards supply chain re-structuring”.

Research limitations/implications

The obstacles' prioritized rankings could help leaders to create sequential strategies for adapting a resilient CSCM structure by systematically eliminating these obstacles. Moreover, the pinpointed critical obstacles could be investigated further in separate studies and generate future studies' scope.

Originality/value

During the extensive literature survey, it had been found that the CSCM practices are in the fledgling stage in the developing country's context. Moreover, studies related to CSCM adaption in rubber-based manufacturing industries were much lacking. Presented work is peculiar, aiming to accelerate the CSCM adaption in the industrial rubber sector in developing countries like India.

Implementing Industry 4.0 through Cleaner Production and Social Stakeholders: Holistic and Sustainable Model

Although Industry 4.0 has received much attention in recent years due to the possibility of increasing companies’ productivity, the implementation process is complex. The aim of this study is to present a holistic model for implementing Industry 4.0 based on cleaner production as a fundamental tool for the development of production systems that meet the Sustainable Development 04026-002Goals (SDGs), and social stakeholders that cooperate with this implementation process, helping to develop sustainable infrastructure, processes and technologies to increase the sustainable transformation of these companies towards Industry 4.0. The method used was literature research, and the Delphi technique was used to ask specialists to contribute with their experience to evaluate and propose improvements to the model, in the form of a consensus. The model contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals 9, 12 and 15. This holistic and sustainable model is a contribution to theory and practice, helping executives, technicians, entrepreneurs and those involved with Industry 4.0 to base the implementation process in the needs and specificities of each company, avoiding the “one fits all” models, considering the peculiarities of each company and the complexity of the implementation process in a more efficient and collaborative digital production ecosystems base, seeking to reduce inequalities, through the joint effort of social stakeholders to find ways to restore and/or improve social harmony, impacted by Industry 4.0.

Industry 4.0 and Smart Data as Enablers of the Circular Economy in Manufacturing: Product Re-Engineering with Circular Eco-Design

The digital transformation of manufacturing firms, in addition to making operations more efficient, offers important opportunities both to promote the transition to a circular economy and to experiment with new techniques for designing smarter and greener products. This study integrates Industry 4.0 technologies, smart data, Life Cycle Assessment methodology, and material microstructural analysis techniques to develop and apply a circular eco-design model that has been implemented in the Italian ceramic tile manufacturing industry. The model has been initially adopted in a simulation environment to define five different scenarios of raw material supply, alternative to the current production one. The scenarios were then validated operationally at laboratory scale and in a pilot environment, demonstrating that a proper selection of raw material transport systems significantly improves the environmental performance of the ceramic product. Both the results of the laboratory tests and of the pre-industrial experiments have demonstrated the technological feasibility of the solutions identified with circular eco-design, enabling the re-engineering of the ceramic product as the fifth of the 6Rs of the circular economy.

Towards a Conceptual Development of Industry 4.0, Servitisation, and Circular Economy: A Systematic Literature Review

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies have been highlighted in recent literature as enablers of servitisation. Simultaneously, businesses are advised to implement a circular economy (CE) to bring new opportunities. However, it is pertinent to mention that little attention has been given to assess the role of I4.0 in adopting the CE and servitisation in a fully integrated manner. This research fills this gap by developing a conceptual framework through a systematic literature review of 139 studies investigating the relationship between the I4.0, CE, and servitisation. This study identifies the impact of these variables on a firm’s operational and financial performance (revenue stream, growth, and profitability). Our research findings advocate that adopting I4.0 technologies to the business and manufacturing model enables sustainability, energy and resource efficiency while enhancing performance and offering innovative products through smart services. Thus, firms must systematically adopt I4.0 technologies to support a CE model that creates value through servitisation. This study identifies the research gaps that are unexplored for practitioners and future researchers while providing insight into the role of I4.0 in implementing CE in the servitisation business model.

Sustainable, Smart, and Sensing Technologies for Cyber-Physical Manufacturing Systems: A Systematic Literature Review

With growing evidence of the operational performance of cyber-physical manufacturing systems, there is a pivotal need for comprehending sustainable, smart, and sensing technologies underpinning data-driven decision-making processes. In this research, previous findings were cumulated showing that cyber-physical production networks operate automatically and smoothly with artificial intelligence-based decision-making algorithms in a sustainable manner and contribute to the literature by indicating that sustainable Internet of Things-based manufacturing systems function in an automated, robust, and flexible manner. Throughout October 2020 and April 2021, a quantitative literature review of the Web of Science, Scopus, and ProQuest databases was performed, with search terms including “Internet of Things-based real-time production logistics”, “sustainable smart manufacturing”, “cyber-physical production system”, “industrial big data”, “sustainable organizational performance”, “cyber-physical smart manufacturing system”, and “sustainable Internet of Things-based manufacturing system”. As research published between 2018 and 2021 was inspected, and only 426 articles satisfied the eligibility criteria. By taking out controversial or ambiguous findings (insufficient/irrelevant data), outcomes unsubstantiated by replication, too general material, or studies with nearly identical titles, we selected 174 mainly empirical sources. Further developments should entail how cyber-physical production networks and Internet of Things-based real-time production logistics, by use of cognitive decision-making algorithms, enable the advancement of data-driven sustainable smart manufacturing.

Analysing the critical success factors and the risks associated with third-party logistics in the food supply chain: a case of coffee industry

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to analyse various risks associated with third-party logistics (3PL) in the coffee supply chain and to present a framework that computes the influence of these risks on the critical success factors of the coffee supply chain.

Design/methodology/approach

The risks have been identified through a comprehensive literature review and validation by industry experts. The paper utilises an interpretive structural modelling (ISM) methodology for developing a hierarchical relationship among the CSFs. Furthermore, fuzzy MICMAC analysis is carried out to categorise these CSFs based on their driving power and dependence value. The fuzzy technique for order preferences by the similarity of an ideal solution (fuzzy-TOPSIS) approach has been applied to prioritise the risks associated with 3PL based on their ability to influence the CSFs of the coffee SC. Furthermore, we performed a sensitivity analysis to analyse the stability of the results obtained in this study.

Findings

This study illustrates ten risks associated with 3PL and five CSFs in the coffee supply chain. The analysis revealed that coffee enterprises need to develop a balanced pricing strategy to ensure a sustainable competitive advantage, whereas the lack of direct customer communication is the most dominant 3PL risk affecting the CSFs.

Practical implications

This research provides coffee enterprises with a generalised framework with set parameters that can be used to attain a successful coffee supply chain in any developing nation.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the literature by being the first kind of study, which has used fuzzy ISM-MICMAC to analyse the CSFs of the coffee supply chain and fuzzy-TOPSIS for analysing the impact of various risks associated with the 3PL in the coffee supply chain. Thus, this work can be considered a benchmark for future research and advancement in the coffee business field.

The Role of Digital Technologies in Operationalizing the Circular Economy Transition: A Systematic Literature Review

The enabling role of Digital Technologies towards the Circular Economy transition has been recognized. Nonetheless, to support the transition, the operationalization of the discourse is still needed. The present study performs a systematic literature review, deepening the knowledge on the role of Digital Technologies in operationalizing the Circular Economy transition. The analysis is shaped according to the ReSOLVE framework, as it has been recognized as able to operationally guide industrial firms towards the Circular Economy transition. Despite the broad focus on the topic by the extant literature, the results of the analysis show limited Circular Economy aspects addressed and specific technologies considered, making it difficult to have a complete overview on the implementation of Digital Technologies in the Circular Economy transition, operatively addressing it. Shortcomings are identified regarding the lack of an integrated and holistic analysis of the relationships, the need for investigating the decision-making process and specific Circular Economy practices, all from an empirical perspective. The paper eventually suggests streams for further research while offering theoretical and practical implications.

Nexus of circular economy and sustainable business performance in the era of digitalization

Purpose

This study aims to conduct a comprehensive review and network-based analysis by exploring future research directions in the nexus of circular economy (CE) and sustainable business performance (SBP) in the context of digitalization.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review methodology was adopted to present the review in the field of CE and SBP in the era of digitalization. WOS and SCOPUS databases were considered in the study to identify and select the articles. The bibliometric study was carried out to analyze the significant contributions made by authors, various journal sources, countries and different universities in the field of CE and SBP in the era of digitalization. Further, network analysis is carried out to analyze the collaboration among authors from different countries.

Findings

The study revealed that digitalization could be a great help in developing sustainable circular products. Moreover, the customers' involvement is necessary for creating innovative sustainable circular products using digitalization. A move toward the product-service system was suggested to accelerate the transformation toward CE and digitalization.

Originality/value

The paper discusses digitalization and CE practices' adoption to enhance the SP of the firms. This work's unique contribution is the systematic literature analysis and bibliometric study to explore future research directions in the nexus of CE and SP in the context of digitalization. The present study has been one of the first efforts to examine the literature of CE and SBP integration from a digitalization perspective along with bibliometric analysis.

Building Information Modelling and Internet of Things Integration for Facility Management—Literature Review and Future Needs

Digitisation of the built environment is seen as a significant factor for innovation in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operation sector. However, lack of data and information in as-built digital models considerably limits the potential of Building Information Modelling in Facility Management. Therefore, optimisation of data collection and management is needed, all the more so now that Industry 4.0 has widened the use of sensors into buildings and infrastructures. A literature review on the two main pillars of digitalisation in construction, Building Information Modelling and Internet of Things, is presented, along with a bibliographic analysis of two citations and abstracts databases focusing on the operations stage. The bibliographic research has been carried out using Web of Science and Scopus databases. The article is aimed at providing a detailed analysis of BIM–IoT integration for Facility Management (FM) process improvements. Issues, opportunities and areas where further research efforts are required are outlined. Finally, four key areas of further research development in FM management have been proposed, focusing on optimising data collection and management.

Applying Industry 4.0 technologies in the COVID–19 sustainable chains

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is 1) to investigate the effects on the crucial Industry 4.0 technological innovations that interact between the real and virtual worlds and that are applied in the sustainable supply chain process; 2) to contribute to the identification of the opportunities, the challenges and the gaps that will support the new research study developments and 3) to analyze the impact of the Industry 4.0 technologies as facilitators of the sustainable supply chain performance in the midst of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Design/methodology/approach

This research is performed through a bibliographic review in the electronic databases of the Emerald Insight, the Scopus and the Web of Science, considering the main scientific publications on the subject.

Findings

The bibliographic search results in 526 articles, followed by two sequential filters for deleting the duplicate articles (resulting in 487 articles) and for selecting the most relevant articles (resulting in 150 articles).

Practical implications

This article identifies the opportunities and the challenges focused on the emerging Industry 4.0 theme. The opportunities can contribute to the sustainable performance of the supply chains and their territories. The Industry 4.0 can also generate challenges like the social inequalities related to the position of the man in the labor market by replacing the human workforce with the machines. Therefore, the man-machine relationship in the Industry 4.0 era is analyzed as a gap in the literature. Therefore, as a way to fill this gap, the authors of this article suggest the exploration of the research focused on the Society 5.0. Also known as “super-smart society,” this recent theme appeared in Japan in April 2016. According to Fukuda (2020), in addition to the focus on the technological development, the Society 5.0 also aims at the quality of life and the social challenge resolutions.

Originality/value

This article contributes to the analysis of the Industry 4.0 technologies as facilitators in the sustainable supply chain performance. It addresses the impacts of the Industry 4.0 technologies applied to the supply chains in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it analyzes the research gaps and limitations found in the literature. The result of this study can add value and stimulate new research studies related to the application of the Industry 4.0 technologies as facilitators in the supply chain sustainable performance. It can encourage the studies related to the COVID-19 impacts on the sustainable supply chains, and it can promote the research development on the relationship among the man, the machine and the labor in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Circular Economy Strategies for Equipment Lifetime Extension: A Systematic Review

Even if the economy nowadays is still locked into a linear model of production, tighter environmental standards, resource scarcity and changing consumer expectations are forcing organizations to find alternatives to lighten their impacts. The concept of Circular Economy (CE) is to an increasing extent treated as a solution to this series of challenges. That said, the multitude of approaches and definitions around CE and Life Cycle Extension Strategies (LCES) makes it difficult to provide (Small and Medium Enterprise) SMEs with a consistent understanding of the topic. This paper aims at bridging this gap by providing a systematic literature review of the most prominent papers related to the CE and lifetime extension, with a particular focus on the equipment and machinery sector. A taxonomy was used to define and cluster a subset of selected papers to build a homogeneous approach for understanding the multiple strategies used in the industry, and the standards in maintenance and remanufacturing strategies. As a final research step, we also propose a Strategy Characterization Framework (SCF) to build the ground for the selection of the best strategy to be applied for production equipment life cycle extension on several industrial use cases.

Simulation-based lean six sigma for Industry 4.0: an action research in the process industry

Purpose

The primary aim of this article is to ascertain the modalities of leveraging Lean Six Sigma (LSS) for Industry 4.0 (I4.0) with special reference to the process industries. Moreover, it intends to determine the applicability of simulation-based LSS in the automation of the mineral water industry, with special emphasis on the robust design of the control system to improve productivity and performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts the action research methodology, which is exploratory in nature along with the DMAIC (define-measure-analyze-improve-control) approach to systematically unearth the root causes and to develop robust solutions. The MATLAB simulation software and Minitab statistical software are effectively utilized to draw the inferences.

Findings

The root causes of critical to quality characteristic (CTQ) and variation in purity level of water are addressed through the simulation-based LSS approach. All the process parameters and noise parameters of the reverse osmosis (RO) process are optimized to reduce the errors and to improve the purity of the water. The project shows substantial improvement in the sigma rating from 1.14 to 3.88 due to data-based analysis and actions in the process. Eventually, this assists the management to realize an annual saving of 20% of its production and overhead costs. This study indicates that LSS can be applicable even in the advent of I4.0 by reinforcing the existing approach and embracing data analysis through simulation.

Research limitations/implications

The limitation of this research is that the inference is drawn based on a single case study confined to process industry automation. Having said that, the methodology deployed, scientific information related to optimization, and technical base established can be generalized.

Originality/value

This article is the first of its kind in establishing the integration of simulation, LSS, and I4.0 with special reference to automation in the process industry. It also delineates the case study in a phase-wise manner to explore the applicability and relevance of LSS with I4.0. The study is archetype in enabling LSS to a new era, and can act as a benchmark document for academicians, researchers, and practitioners for further research and development.

Impact of Industry 4.0 on Sustainability—Bibliometric Literature Review

Nowadays, sustainability and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) are trending concepts used in the literature on industrial processes. Industry 4.0 has been mainly addressed by the current literature from a technological perspective, overlooking sustainability challenges regarding this recent paradigm. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the state of the art of relations between sustainability and I4.0. The goal will be met by (1) mapping and summarizing existing research efforts, (2) identifying research agendas, (3) examining gaps and opportunities for further research. Web of Science, Scopus, and a set of specific keywords were used to select peer-reviewed papers presenting evidence on the relationship between sustainability and I4.0. To achieve this goal, it was decided to use a dynamic methodology called “systematic literature network analysis”. This methodology combines a systematic literature review approach with the analysis of bibliographic networks. Selected papers were used to build a reference framework formed by I4.0 technologies and sustainability issues. The paper contributes to the Sustainable Industry 4.0 reference framework with application procedures. It aims to show how I4.0 can support ideas of sustainability. The results showed that apart from a huge contribution to both concepts, many papers do not provide an insight into realization of initiatives to introduce Sustainable Industry 4.0.