An Examination of the Role of Industry 4.0 in Supply Chain Management: Critical Success Factors and a Roadmap

Global supply chain management aims to enhance efficiency and profitability for suppliers, manufacturers, logistics providers, and warehouses. It faces challenges due to the complexity involved. To stay competitive, organizations in the industry are leveraging Industry 4.0 technologies, but some struggle with implementation due to limited expertise. The primary challenge of Global Supply Chain Management now is to integrate Industry 4.0 tools and technologies to maintain high-quality standards and optimized processes. This study focused on identifying the key factors that directly affect the success of integrating Industry 4.0 into the supply chain. It examined both tangible and intangible business resources and investigated the mediating role of work engagement. Despite previous research efforts to develop frameworks and methodologies for Global Supply Chain Management and Industry 4.0, there remains a lack of consensus regarding the factors crucial for successful implementation. The availability of business resources and the level of employees\u27 work engagement are considered vital factors that have contributed to this ongoing debate. To validate the latent constructs, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted. The relationship between variables was analyzed using structural equation modeling with AMOS software. The study revealed that physical, financial, human, technological, and organizational resources, along with work engagement, had a positive impact on Industry 4.0 success. Work engagement partially mediated the effects of physical, financial, technological, and organizational resources on Industry 4.0 success. However, the study found that work engagement did not mediate the relationship between human resources and Industry 4.0 success. This study aims to provide a practical roadmap of scalable Industry 4.0 tools that can bring value to supply chain organizations. By transitioning from traditional methods to digitalized approaches, organizations can become more agile, flexible, accurate, and efficient. Ultimately, this transformation can help them gain a competitive advantage in the industry