Industry 4.0 and Beyond: A Review of the Literature on the Challenges and Barriers Facing the Agri-Food Supply Chain

Abstract

In recent years, the Industry 4.0 concept has gained considerable attention from professionals, researchers and decision makers. For its part, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of managing the agri-food supply chain to ensure the food that the population needs. Industry 4.0 and its extensions can address the needs of the agri-food supply chain by bringing new features such as security, transparency and traceability in line with sustainable development goals. This study aims to systematically analyze the literature to address the challenges and barriers against the application of industry 4.0 and its related technologies in the management of an agri-food supply chain. Currently, despite the large number of publications, there is no clear agreement on what Industry 4.0 is, and even less its extensions. The next revolution that includes new technologies and improves several existing technologies brings additional conceptual and practical complexity. Consequently, in this work we first determine the main components of I 4.0 and their extensions by studying the literature, and then, in the second step, define the agri-food supply chain on which I 4.0 technologies are applied. Two well-known databases—Web of Science and Scopus—were chosen to extract data for the systematic review of the literature. For the final evaluation, we identified 24 of 100 reviewed publications. The results provide an exhaustive analysis of the different I 4.0 technologies and their extensions that are applied in regards to the agri-food supply chain. In addition, we find 15 challenges that are classified into five major themes in the agri-food supply chain: technical, operational, financial, social and infrastructure. The four most important challenges identified are technological architecture, security and privacy, big data management and IoT (internet)-based infrastructure. Only a few articles addressed sustainability, which reaffirms and demonstrates a considerable gap in terms of the sustainable agri-food supply chain, with waste management being the one that has attracted the most attention. This review provides a roadmap for academics and practitioners alike, showing the gaps and facilitating the identification of I 4.0 technologies that can help address the challenges facing the efficient management of an agri-food supply chain.