The Thing About the Internet of Things : Scoping the Social Science Discourse in IoT Research

Internet of Things (IoT) is predicted to change not only industry, businesses and commerce, but also our everyday lives. Social science research surrounding IoT is important and necessary because of this predicted change. In this ‘scoping study’ keyword-clusters are being used to identify key-concepts within the social science subject area, giving an overview of the scopes within said concepts, and where social science stands to benefit from further research. The result is the thematization of 25 keywords, spread within 5 clusters; Organization, Logistics, Infrastructure, Technology and Protection. This paper argues that more research is needed in human-centric aspects, and that in doing this - a potential sixth theme regarding ethics can emerge where the subject field of social science can stand to generate a larger impact on IoT research

Challenges and future perspectives for the life cycle of manufacturing networks in the mass customisation era

Manufacturers and service providers are called to design, plan, and operate globalised manufacturing networks, addressing to challenges of increasing complexity in all aspects of product and production life cycle. These factors, caused primarily by the increasing demand for product variety and shortened life cycles, generate a number of issues related to the life cycle of manufacturing systems and networks. Focusing on the aspects that affect manufacturing network performance, this work reviews the exiting literature around the design, planning, and control of manufacturing networks in the era of mass customisation and personalisation. The considered life cycle aspects include supplier selection, initial manufacturing network design, supply chain coordination, complexity, logistics management, inventory and capacity planning and management, lot sizing, enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, and supply chain control. Based on this review and in correlation with the view of the manufacturing networks and facilities of the future, directions for the development of methods and tools to satisfy product-service customisation and personalisation are promoted