Industry 4.0 Technologies and Their Impact in Contemporary Logistics: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Even though the topic of Industry 4.0 in the last decade has attracted significant and multifarious attention from academics and practitioners, a structured and systematic review of Industry 4.0 in the context of contemporary logistics is currently lacking. This study attempted to address this shortcoming by performing a systematic review of the available literature of Industry 4.0 in the logistics context. To that end, and after a systematic inclusion/exclusion process, 65 carefully selected papers were addressed in the study. The results obtained from this study were illustrated and discussed in order to provide answers to two research questions pre-defined by the authors. In essence, this study identified emerging aspects and present trends in the area, addressed the main technological developments and evolution of Industry 4.0 and their impact for contemporary logistics, and finally pinpointed literature shortcomings and currently under-explored areas with a high potential for impactful future research. Findings of this review can hopefully be used as the basis for future research in the emerging Logistics 4.0 concept and related topics.