Preface

This book offers a selection of chapters in the field of supply chain management in the era of Industry 4.0, promoting new research results in the field. It is written by experts from Botswana, China, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The transformation of conventional manufacturing and service processes into cyber-physical systems using Industry 4.0 technologies influences the complexity of connected supply chain solutions. The book covers eleven topics determined by the theoretical and practical aspects of supply chain solutions based on Industry 4.0 technologies.

Chapter 1, "Industry 4.0 and Its Implications: Concept, Opportunities, and Future Directions", introduces the framework of Industry 4.0 and discusses the drivers, potential effects, and obstacles of the Industry 4.0 paradigm.

Chapter 2, "Enabling Sustainable Supply Chains in the Industrial 4.0 Era", focuses on the potential of Industry 4.0 technologies. As the chapter shows, these technologies offer solutions for environmentally and commercially sustainable processes.

Chapter 3, "Industry 4.0: The Tenets of the Next Generation of Supply Chain Management", describes the supply web concept and its distinctive tenets focusing on vertical, diagonal, and horizontal dimensions.

Chapter 4, "Application of Internet of Things in the Movement of Goods at Customs Level during Covid-19 Pandemic", identifies potential governmental solutions at the customs level for improving customs operations and enhancing their efficiency and effectiveness in a pandemic situation.

Chapter 5, "Industry 4.0 Technologies Impact on Supply Chain Sustainability", describes the most important Industry 4.0 technologies including big data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things, sensors, blockchain technology, robotic systems, cloud computing, cyber-physical systems, additive manufacturing, virtual reality, augmented reality, and autonomous vehicles and drones and focuses on their impact on sustainability, efficiency, cost reduction, transparency, traceability, and collaboration.

Chapter 6, "Open Innovation Strategies on New Product and Process Development Prospects: A Case of the Automotive Component Manufacturers in South Africa", discusses potential open innovation practices and their impact on the processes of automotive component manufacturers focusing on sustainable new product development.

Chapter 7, "Shipping Digitalization and Automation for the Smart Port", describes a potential framework for shipping digitalization and port automation. It presents a case study to illustrate the advantages of blockchain technology applications.

Chapter 8, "Enhancing the Resilience of Sustainable Supplier Management through Combination with Lean and Audit", shows how to pull production and employee involvement under lean practices to strengthen supplier management robustness and enhance the prevention ability of resilience in dealing with opportunistic behavior. It also highlights how the combination of lean practices with an audit mechanism strengthens the practice effect of pull production and employee involvement.

Chapter 9, "Production Systems Performance Optimization through Human/ Machine Collaboration", chapter presents potential robotic displacement solutions in production systems. It also proposes solutions for human-machine interaction problems.

Chapter 10, "Supply Chain: A Modeling-Based Approach for Cyber-Physical Systems", focuses on the optimization of green supply chain solutions using Industry 4.0 technologies. The mathematical model and the computational results validate that Industry 4.0 technologies can improve the performance of supply chain processes.

Finally, Chapter 11, "Sustainable and Efficient City Logistics", describes the main trends, impacts, and challenges of city logistics solutions. It also discusses the importance of smart technologies, with a focus on last-mile delivery operations.

The aim of this book is to help students as well as managers and researchers to understand and appreciate the concept, design, and implementation of supply chain solutions in the Industry 4.0 era.

The editors thank the chapter authors for their scientific contributions. The chapters were edited and published following a rigorous selection process. We also wish to thank and acknowledge the many individuals who helped us throughout the editorial process that made this book possible.
