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Digitalization in Logistics to Realize Sustainable Development
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Digitalization in Logistics to Realize Sustainable Development

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Transportation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 35201

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Herwig Winkler

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Production and Operations Management, Brandenburg University of Technology, 03046 Cottbus, Germany
Interests: digitalization and digital transformation; sustainable logistics and supply chain management; robustness and flexibility of production systems; artificial intelligence in order management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Today, logistics is much more than just a business function related to purchasing, producing, and delivering materials and goods to different companies on the globe. Logistics has become an important role for business management and corporate governance. Logistics pushes the digital transformation by implementing new technologies for the internal and external material flow, the design of new processes and activities and at least by new data- and information-driven services for customers. Artificial intelligence will be implemented in more and more applications. Decision makers and people in positions of responsibility are strongly supported by these new possibilities in analyzing data, planning measures, as well as controlling and monitoring the implementation. These digital trends do not only have tremendous impacts on the effectiveness and efficiency of value-added processes of single enterprises. Furthermore, positive consequences for ecological measures along the value stream can be achieved. Modern logistics and supply chain management lead to a sustainable development with lots of positive impacts on economical, ecological, and social figures.

The digitalization in logistics is becoming one of the most powerful trends in various industries. It will transfer the value-added processes along the value stream tremendously in many aspects. Both researchers, and practitioners all over the world continuously report on new projects, possibilities, and innovative solutions with better logistics service levels and lower costs that help to improve economical, ecological, and social conditions.

In this Special Issue, our aim is to collect and publish well-prepared research reports on recent advances in logistics technologies, applications, controlling, governance, and business opportunities to provide our community with an insight into the realized maturity. All types of articles—literature-based, empirical research, case studies—are welcome that deal with innovations, applications, and best practice examples of sustainability.

Authors from all disciplines are cordially invited to submit their papers until 31/12/2021. Exemplary topics deal with digitalization approaches toward sustainable development in:

-   procurement and purchasing

-   intra logistics

-   logistics networks,

-   logistics platforms

-   logistics technologies

-   maritime logistics

-   automotive logistics

-   artificial intelligence

-   case studies

-   …

Prof. Dr. Herwig Winkler
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Keywords: digitization
  • digitalization
  • digital transformation
  • digital technologies
  • artificial intelligence
  • logistics
  • logistics processes
  • value added services
  • sustainable development

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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22 pages, 3149 KiB  
Article
Digital Twins within the Circular Economy: Literature Review and Concept Presentation
by Janine Mügge, Anne Seegrün, Tessa-Katharina Hoyer, Theresa Riedelsheimer and Kai Lindow
Sustainability 2024, 16(7), 2748; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16072748 - 26 Mar 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1261
Abstract
Digital twins offer a promising approach to sustainable value creation by providing specific life cycle data and enabling the monitoring and implementation of circular economy strategies throughout the product’s life cycle. By analyzing product, component, and material data, as well as process data, [...] Read more.
Digital twins offer a promising approach to sustainable value creation by providing specific life cycle data and enabling the monitoring and implementation of circular economy strategies throughout the product’s life cycle. By analyzing product, component, and material data, as well as process data, it is possible to create transparency throughout a product’s life cycle, build a data-driven product ecosystem, and establish new business and value creation models, from SMEs to large enterprises. This paper identifies application scenarios, their technological readiness level, and the challenges of digital twins for the circular economy in the manufacturing industry based on a systematic literature review. Gaps such as ensuring a continuous flow of information and taking into account the different levels of digitalization of companies are identified. As a main result, a holistic concept for the scoping of a digital twin for the circular economy is presented. One specific use case for end-of-life decision-making is elaborated upon. It is shown that the circular economy can be supported by digital twin data, especially for the optimal decision on end-of-life vehicles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digitalization in Logistics to Realize Sustainable Development)
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24 pages, 4236 KiB  
Article
Empowering End-of-Life Vehicle Decision Making with Cross-Company Data Exchange and Data Sovereignty via Catena-X
by Janine Mügge, Julian Grosse Erdmann, Theresa Riedelsheimer, Marvin Michael Manoury, Sophie-Odette Smolka, Sabine Wichmann and Kai Lindow
Sustainability 2023, 15(9), 7187; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15097187 - 26 Apr 2023
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4031
Abstract
The mobility sector is the world’s second-largest producer of energy-related CO2 emissions, and it is facing a global resource shortage. The demand for circular products, the use of secondary materials in future vehicles, and the need for sustainable business models in the [...] Read more.
The mobility sector is the world’s second-largest producer of energy-related CO2 emissions, and it is facing a global resource shortage. The demand for circular products, the use of secondary materials in future vehicles, and the need for sustainable business models in the mobility sector is increasing. However, a transparent and end-to-end data exchange throughout the entire value network is missing, which is hindering an efficient circular economy. Relevant information on the vehicle, its components, and materials at the end of the product life cycle are often missing. In this context, this paper presents a decision support system based on Digital Twin data for a circular economy solution as a software application. It was developed within the German research project Catena-X following an integrated approach of user-centered design, the V-model, and within the Scaled Agile Framework. By combining these methodological approaches, customer-oriented solutions were developed and continuously improved at each stage of development to shorten the time-to-market. Catena-X is based on Gaia-X principles. In Gaia-X, necessary core services are developed, and contraction negotiation for data exchange and usage policies is enabled and implemented. The decision support system provides important information about the exact composition and condition of the vehicle, its components, and its materials. Thus, it helps to improve efficiency, sustainability, and the implementation of the circular economy. The decision support system was tested and validated with a use case that provided Digital Twin data on the end-of-life vehicle. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digitalization in Logistics to Realize Sustainable Development)
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20 pages, 606 KiB  
Article
An Analytic Hierarchy Process for Selection of Blockchain-Based Platform for Product Lifecycle Management
by Mubashir Hayat and Herwig Winkler
Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 13703; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142113703 - 22 Oct 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2323
Abstract
Blockchain technology has disrupted traditional business processes and hence gained significant attention and popularity in recent years. Consequently, a number of blockchain-based platforms are available today that offer vast applications across multiple sectors and industries. Implementing these blockchain-based platforms as an alternative to [...] Read more.
Blockchain technology has disrupted traditional business processes and hence gained significant attention and popularity in recent years. Consequently, a number of blockchain-based platforms are available today that offer vast applications across multiple sectors and industries. Implementing these blockchain-based platforms as an alternative to traditional product lifecycle management systems (PLMs) is one of the applications. However, before any platform is adopted, its nature, functionalities, and adaptability need to be clearly defined, evaluated, and verified. In this context, the proposed work explores the available blockchain-based platforms that can be used for the purpose of product lifecycle management. We then apply one of the multi-criteria decision-making techniques, i.e., the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), to select the best possible blockchain-based platform for PLM. As transaction speed, data privacy, and scalability are our prime concerns in PLM, we only considered the permissioned (private) blockchain platforms as available alternatives in the final selection process. Results achieved on the basis of considered criteria show that Hyperledger Fabric is the top-ranked among available alternatives to be used for PLM. Furthermore, as blockchain is a new technology, a clear comparison of the available platforms based on the performance-based metrics and key performance indicators is not completely matured and is still in the development stage. However, our proposed approach can be considered an attempt to create a procedure for evaluating blockchain-based platform implementation in any sector. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digitalization in Logistics to Realize Sustainable Development)
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18 pages, 608 KiB  
Article
Logistics Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa and Opportunities for Digitalization
by Damilola Kuteyi and Herwig Winkler
Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 2399; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042399 - 19 Feb 2022
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 23284
Abstract
Improvements in logistics performance are considered to be a significant driver of economic growth. Digitalization in logistics, which includes enhanced tracking systems, digitized flows of information, artificial intelligence and automation, has further enabled globalized trade. However, Sub-Saharan African (SSA) economies, majorly export-commodity-dependent, still [...] Read more.
Improvements in logistics performance are considered to be a significant driver of economic growth. Digitalization in logistics, which includes enhanced tracking systems, digitized flows of information, artificial intelligence and automation, has further enabled globalized trade. However, Sub-Saharan African (SSA) economies, majorly export-commodity-dependent, still lag behind, grappling with inadequate policy frameworks, huge infrastructure deficits and trade barriers which result in a broken supply chain that negatively impacts growth. This study aims to investigate existing challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa, the potentials for the region to leapfrog traditional supply chain practices and adopt digital technologies, by evaluating previous findings in a systematic manner and augmenting these findings through semi-structured interviews. Systematic literature analysis conducted on published academic literature within a specific period and based on predefined criteria resulted in 287 articles being used for the final analysis. The most common logistics challenges and potential solutions have been identified. Semi-structured interviews with logistics service providers in the region have been conducted to establish the findings highlighted in the systematic literature review. The interviews showed that human capital training is a major factor when adopting digital technologies, and a focus on infrastructure investments, regulatory and institutional framework improvements will boost economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digitalization in Logistics to Realize Sustainable Development)
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14 pages, 743 KiB  
Concept Paper
Legitimacy Contexts of BoP Markets: Characterization and Implications for Supply Chain Functions
by Maryam Zomorrodi and Sajad Fayezi
Sustainability 2022, 14(2), 920; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020920 - 14 Jan 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2618
Abstract
An important market that is receiving increasing attention by firms relates to the poorest at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP). BoP businesses contribute to the first UN Sustainable Development Goal that calls for an end to poverty in all its manifestations. BoP [...] Read more.
An important market that is receiving increasing attention by firms relates to the poorest at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP). BoP businesses contribute to the first UN Sustainable Development Goal that calls for an end to poverty in all its manifestations. BoP businesses are regarded as financially and socially beneficial for both participating firms and poor communities. It is, however, understood that success in BoP markets cannot (and should not) be assumed, as it demands a profoundly different view towards managing supply chains. Focusing on this issue, our conceptual study contributes to the emerging debates in BoP and supply chain management research by elaborating the notion of legitimacy contexts (LCs) at BoP. We draw on institutional theory to characterize the LCs in BoP markets and discuss their implications for key supply chain functions. We argue that firms often design their supply chain functions for BoP business using their own LCs as opposed to those of BoP actors. This implies ignoring the institutional distance between BoP markets and firms and reveals a key culprit in the failure of BoP projects. We offer practical implications for firms intending to engage in BoP business. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digitalization in Logistics to Realize Sustainable Development)
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