Analysing key barriers to Industry 4.0 for sustainable supply chain management

Abstract

This study aims to define the adoption barriers to Industry 4.0 for sustainable supply chain and define their causalities and, dependencies, hierarchical levels of these barriers. Firstly, a framework for critical barriers to Industry 4.0 for sustainable supply chain management is created with literature review and experts for the first time. Then an integrated approach of Grey DEMATEL – ANP is proposed to analyze the adoption barriers to Industry 4.0 in sustainable supply chain management. The proposed method determines the cause-effect relationship among barriers, the strength of interactions, and the relative weights of critical barriers to Industry 4.0 in a sustainable supply chain. The results show that uncertainty about economic benefits, resistance to change, and lack of infrastructure and tools for Industry 4.0 in the Sustainable supply chain are crucial barriers to implementing Industry 4.0 technologies in SSC. This study can help decision-makers and managers define the barriers and provide the theoretical guideline to implement Industry 4.0 technologies across the sustainable supply chain successfully.