Sustainability and Industry 4.0: New Perspectives of Industry 4.0 Realization in Sustainability Context

Dear Colleagues,

The supply chain (SC) refers to all activities associated with the transformation and flow of goods and services, including their attendant information flows, from the sources of materials to end-users. SCs can be considered as dynamic network systems that require significant coordination of information from the up layer to the down layer. From a classical standpoint, SCs are only responsible for transporting products among themselves to satisfy end-users. The application of a typical SC has simply been to procure raw materials and produce items in different factories and transport them to retailers or costumers. Nevertheless, this application altered during the last decade since continuing advances in communications and transportation technologies (e.g., mobile communication, the Internet, and overnight delivery) have prompted the continuous evolution of the SC. One of the tremendous advances in recent years is the Industry 4.0 paradigm that is causing excellent progression in SC and can also cause overall modifications in the future.

(1) The focus of this Special Issue is the investigation of Industry 4.0 opportunities for strengthening the supply chain from a sustainability perspective. Considering the capabilities of Industry 4.0 for enabling real-time data communication among operational agents over the whole production and supply chain, the focus will be to propose and search for solutions which help firms from a sustainability perspective. Industry 4.0 has proposed the worldwide and widespread adoption of information and communication technologies in the whole of SC. Within Industry 4.0, agents are working in a dynamic environment, and the concept of decision making is changed. Consequently, the Industry 4.0 paradigm has a significant impact on SC, both vertically and horizontally, in the operational level ecosystem. The scope of papers will be whole value-added processes in the supply chain which can be affected by Industry 4.0 paradigm. The Special Issue will be an attempt to assist with analysis of the effects of changes in processes in the supply chain inspired by Industry 4.0 and their related affects from sustainability perspectives.

(2) Papers submitted to this Special Issue are welcome to investigate sustainability concerns and the ways in which Industry 4.0 can address them. The barriers and challenges in applying Industry 4.0 paradigms in relation to sustainability are of most value. We also welcome research studies which analyze the latest trends and achievements in Industry 4.0 and how they have helped the sustainability paradigm in supply chain based on modern technologies.

The overall research contributions are welcomed to answer the following questions but are not limited to:

• How to clarify the impact of I4.0 paradigm from Sustainability Assessment & Control perspectives (indicators, measurement and decision making mechanisms etc.), from shop-floor to higher managerial levels (of Cyber Physical Production Systems)?
• How issues such as lack of visibility (due to complexity) or lack of interoperability (due to high interaction level) may impact Sustainability in I4.0 context?
• How real time data collection, communication and processing as well as intelligent decision making can support Sustainability?
• How to integrate Sustainability concerns in interoperability research and architectures especially with paradigms like IoT and digital twins in I4.0?
• Is sustainability a common driver of technological innovation in I4.0 context?

Dr. Omid Fatahi Valilai
Dr. Amir Pirayesh
Guest Editors

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• Industry 4.0
• cyberphysical systems
• sustainability
• adaptive planning
• risk analysis and assessment