Digital transformation technologies as an enabler for sustainable logistics and supply chain processes – an exploratory framework

Abstract

Goal: The aim is to present a literature review for identifying digital transformation technologies (DTT) for manufacturing and pointing out their capabilities and applications. Furthermore, the paper lays out an exploratory framework to depict the impact scope of the cases on logistics and supply chain management (L&SCM) processes.
 Design / Methodology / Approach: The identification of relevant DTTs and their capabilities is based on a systematic literature review. The exploratory framework builds upon Industry 4.0 concepts and frameworks as well as the conditions for sustainable digital artefacts. It is then related to cases found in the systematic literature review.
 Results: The results indicate that the DTT auto identification, additive manufacturing, and cloud technology lead to improvements concerning transparency efficiency, optimizing distribution distances and logistics resources in networks. The framework presents an avenue for assessing the impact scope and potentials of implementing DTT.
 Limitations of the investigation: The literature base limits the findings since it is built upon two databases and is restricted to articles published in English. The theoretically deduced framework accounts for the dimensions technologies, the SCOR model and RAMI architecture. The illustration is simplified but can be detailed according to the needs. It is not tested based on case studies and should therefore be applied in practice to further develop it.
 Practical implications: Practitioners gain insight into how to anchor potential use cases for more sustainable L&SCM processes in the framework.
 Originality / Value: This paper is the first to relate the capabilities of DTT to more sustainable L&SCM processes in manufacturing by means of a systematic literature review and link the findings to an exploratory framework.