Readiness and Maturity of Smart and Sustainable Supply Chains: A Model Proposal

Abstract

Many companies embrace Industry 4.0 technologies to enable operational sustainability against increasing climate change effects, decreasing natural resources, and raising consumer awareness of environmental issues. Even though readiness and maturity assessment of smartness and sustainability concepts are nested, no study simultaneously focuses on these concepts. As pioneering research, we propose a novel model titled “Smart and Sustainable Supply chain Readiness and Maturity model (S3RM)” and validate it by conducting a case study in the automotive industry. We design our model upon the triple-bottom-line (TBL) approach consisting of smartness and sustainability dimensions. Our study introduces the TBL of smartness covering availability, integrity, and adaptability sub-dimension. TBL of sustainability includes social, environmental, and economic sub-dimensions. The proposed model calculates the Smart and Sustainable Readiness and Maturity Index by averaging sustainability scores’ summation and smartness scores’ multiplication. Each sub-dimension consists of items measured by a readiness and maturity scale. The findings suggest how smartness and sustainability items create strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the supply chain operations. Our model provides managerial implications in assessing the readiness and maturity of Industry 4.0 tools and sustainability indicators. This study offers a road map to managers on smart and sustainable supply chains’ defined target areas.

Keywords:

• Industry 4.0
• smart and Sustainable Supply Chains
• digitalization
• sustainability
• smartness
• readiness and Maturity Model

EMJ Focus Areas:

• Technology management
• strategic management
• organizational & performance assessment
• 650 supply chain management

Acronyms

AGV: Automated guided vehicle, AI: Artificial intelligence, BCT: Blockchain technology, CAD: Computer-aided design, CAE: Computer-aided engineering, CAM: Computer-aided manufacturing, CPS: Cyber-physical systems, CMMI: Capability Maturity Model Integration, CNC: Computer numerical control, CRM: Customer relationship management, DREAMY: Digital Readiness Assessment Maturity Model, ERP: Enterprise resource planning, ICT: Information and communication technology, IIoT: Industrial Internet of Things, IoT: Internet of Things, IT: Information technology, MES: Manufacturing execution systems, ML: Machine learning, S3RM: Smart and Sustainable Readiness and Maturity Model, SCM: Supply chain management, SRM: Supplier relationship management, SSCM: Sustainable supply chain management, TBL: Triple bottom-line, TQM: Total quality management

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sercan Demir

Sercan Demir completed his M.Sc. degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, in 2012. He was awarded his Ph.D. degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Miami in 2017. His current research focuses on Industry 4.0 and digital transformation, disaster risk management and humanitarian SCM, and game theory applications on supply chain management. He teaches courses such as operations management and computer simulation systems.

Mehmet Akif Gunduz

Mehmet Akif Gunduz obtained his B.Sc. degree in management engineering at the Istanbul Technical University in 2008. He received his M.Sc. in business administration at the Selcuk University in 2012 and Ph.D. degree in business administration at the Hacettepe University in 2017. He is presently an assistant professor at the Department of International Trade and Logistics of KTO Karatay University. His research interests are international business management, competitive strategies, marketing research, and logistics.

Yasanur Kayikci

Yasanur Kayikci is an associate professor of Logistics and Supply Chain Management and works for the Department of Industrial Engineering, Engineering Faculty at the Turkish-German University. She received her Ph.D. in Information Business and Logistics Management from Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien) and obtained M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees in Industrial Engineering from Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) and Yildiz Technical University.

Turan Paksoy

Turan Paksoy is presently a full professor and dean in the Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Necmettin Erbakan University. His papers frequently appear at reputable and internationally recognized journals such as Computers and Industrial Engineering, European Journal of Operational Research, Transportation Research. His academic studies have been cited about 500 times in SCI journals. Dr. Paksoy’s current academic interest includes lean manufacturing, logistics, supply chain management, and fuzzy decision making.