Contextual impacts on industrial processes brought by the digital transformation of manufacturing: a systematic review

The digital transformation of manufacturing (a phenomenon also known as "Industry 4.0" or "Smart Manufacturing") is finding a growing interest both at practitioner and academic levels, but is still in its infancy and needs deeper investigation. Even though current and potential advantages of digital manufacturing are remarkable, in terms of improved efficiency, sustainability, customization, and flexibility, only a limited number of companies has already developed ad hoc strategies necessary to achieve a superior performance. Through a systematic review, this study aims at assessing the current state of the art of the academic literature regarding the paradigm shift occurring in the manufacturing settings, in order to provide definitions as well as point out recurring patterns and gaps to be addressed by future research. For the literature search, the most representative keywords, strict criteria, and classification schemes based on authoritative reference studies were used. The final sample of 156 primary publications was analyzed through a systematic coding process to identify theoretical and methodological approaches, together with other significant elements. This analysis allowed a mapping of the literature based on clusters of critical themes to synthesize the developments of different research streams and provide the most representative picture of its current state. Research areas, insights, and gaps resulting from this analysis contributed to create a schematic research agenda, which clearly indicates the space for future evolutions of the state of knowledge in this field

The supply chain implications of industrial symbiosis

This paper proposes an enterprise input-output model to assess the impacts created by industrial symbiosis (IS) on traditional supply chains for production inputs, triggered by resource use change. The model is capable of measuring a variety of sustainability indicators such as resource and waste savings, total energy use reduction, employment creation, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, the model can be used to analyze IS exchanges from a dynamic perspective, since it is able to take into account dynamic scenarios in wastes production and inputs requirement. A numerical example is presented to show how the model works. This example shows how the impacts of IS strongly depend on the combined effects of upstream supply chains topology, waste treatment processes, and waste-input substitution rate

Resilience of food companies to calamities - perceptions in the Netherlands

Calamities such as extreme droughts and trade or infrastructure breakdowns potentially hamper the continuity of individual food companies, as well as the continuity of food supply in Europe at large. There is a lack of insight into food companies’ resilience in case of cumulative calamities or calamities that did not happen before in recent history. In this context, an expert elicitation study among feed and food companies in the Netherlands was undertaken. Results show that lengthy or structural unavailability of electricity and a lengthy crisis of road transport are perceived as the most threatening calamities.Outcomes also show a relatively limited implementation of BCM (business continuity management) at company level. Complete BCM programs for top-3 calamities perceived to threaten the continuity of food supply in Europe are reported by 0% to 30% of the companies. For calamities perceived to be important for business continuity this is between 20% and 40%. In the field of risk management a leading role is attributed to the public sector for improving international governance and setting up a so-called masterplan with measures such as larger raw-materials stocks and broad sourcing. Findings suggest that further actions are needed, starting with prioritised calamities and the design of a masterplan. Yet, stakeholders are also urged to pro-actively “think the unthinkable

Policy, economic, and industry repercussions of current e-business diffusion rate In European food industry

European policy is focussed on promoting the business techniques and new ways of working which will provide the economic and social foundation of the information society in Europe. To help policy makers define their programmes, and to monitor the effectiveness of these policies, it is essential to examine progress as well as identify areas requiring active support. This study examined the repercussions of e-business progress in the food sector based on the findings of a large quantitative survey that investigated the extent, scope, nature of and factors affecting the speed of e-business development in Europe for the Food, beverages and tobacco sector. For this purpose a pan European survey was conducted by EU market observatory called “European e-Business Market Watch” during the period February and March 2003. This study is based on the findings and reports of “European e-Business Market Watch” which can be accessed in the Internet (www.e-businesswatch.org). This study discusses the economic implications for the individual enterprise, the industry structure as well as policy issues such as quality assurance, promotion of ICT education, training and “cultural” change. Regarding economic implications, e-business has played a indirect role because it has significantly involved only in Large Scale Enterprises which proportionally are a small percentage in food industry. For SMEs, the impact of e-business was mainly to the ICT facilities currently at their disposal: websites, the Internet, and e-mail. Regarding industry implications, e-business has not led to significant structural changes, but it has steamed up certain processes. E-business has armoured supply chain management with advanced but sophisticated network technologies. Regarding policy issues, an e-business solution capable of guaranteeing food safety to consumers and vertically integrating business operations across the supply chain would have a good chance of extraordinary diffusion in the food industry

Modeling Supply Networks and Business Cycles as Unstable Transport Phenomena

Physical concepts developed to describe instabilities in traffic flows can be generalized in a way that allows one to understand the well-known instability of supply chains (the so-called ``bullwhip effect''). That is, small variations in the consumption rate can cause large variations in the production rate of companies generating the requested product. Interestingly, the resulting oscillations have characteristic frequencies which are considerably lower than the variations in the consumption rate. This suggests that instabilities of supply chains may be the reason for the existence of business cycles. At the same time, we establish some link to queuing theory and between micro- and macroeconomics.Comment: For related work see http://www.helbing.or