Cloud supply chain: Integrating Industry 4.0 and digital platforms in the “Supply Chain-as-a-Service”

• Published in: Transportation research. Part E, Logistics and transportation review Vol. 160; p. 102676
• Main Authors: Ivanov, Dmitry, Dolgui, Alexandre, Sokolov, Boris
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2022; Elsevier
• Subjects: Automatic Control Engineering; Cloud supply chain; Computer Science; Digital supply chain; Industry 4.0; Operations Research; Reconfigurable supply chain; Supply chain-as-a-service; Viability; Industry 4.0; Cloud supply chain; Supply chain-as-a-service; Viability; Reconfigurable supply chain; Digital supply chain
• ISSN: 1366-5545; 1878-5794
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2022.102676

•We introduce a notion of cloud supply chain.•Integrating Industry 4.0 and digital platforms.•Case-studies on “supply chain-as-a-service”•Generalized mathematical model of service composition in the cloud supply chain. In this paper, we introduce cloud supply chain which is a business model based on cloud-enabled networking of some third-party physical and digital assets to design and manage a supply chain network. Cloud supply chain integrates concepts and technology of Industry 4.0 and digital platforms emerging in the “supply chain-as-a-service” paradigm. This paper conceptualizes the cloud supply chain as a new and distinct research area. Through analysis of practical cases, we deduce some generalized characteristics of the cloud supply chain. In the generalised model, we formalize supply chain multi-structural dynamics and dynamic service composition. Our results show that the main generalized characteristics of the cloud supply chain are related to (i) multi-structural dynamics; (ii) platforms, digital supply chains, ecosystems, and visibility, (iii) dynamic service composition with dynamically changing buyer/supplier roles, (iv) resilience and viability, and (v) intertwined supply networks and circular economy. We close by discussing future research directions including novel context of Industry 5.0.