Title: An exploratory survey on the impacts of Logistics 4.0 on Italian manufacturing companies

Authors: Marco Ardolino; Andrea Bacchetti; Marco Perona; Ting Zheng; Federico Adrodegari

Addresses: RISE Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Università degli Studi di Brescia, via Branze 38 – 25123, Brescia, Italy ' RISE Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Università degli Studi di Brescia, via Branze 38 – 25123, Brescia, Italy ' RISE Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Università degli Studi di Brescia, via Branze 38 – 25123, Brescia, Italy ' RISE Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Università degli Studi di Brescia, via Branze 38 – 25123, Brescia, Italy ' RISE Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Università degli Studi di Brescia, via Branze 38 – 25123, Brescia, Italy

Abstract: This article focuses on manufacturing logistics, exploring how Italian companies are approaching Logistics 4.0. The purpose is to evaluate the state of the art of technology adoption, highlighting the main influencing factors, and showing the related benefits and obstacles. An exploratory survey was carried out on 91 Italian manufacturing companies. The significance of the influence of the factors analysed regarding the level of adoption of L4.0 has been demonstrated. The study also included eight interviews with survey respondents undertaken to validate the main insights from the survey results. The overall results indicate that the adoption of Logistics 4.0 is still immature but has huge potential. Moreover, the few companies adopting at least one technology have sought benefits related mainly to warehouse activities and efficiency in process operations. The awareness that L4.0 intends a harmonious and integrated implementation of digital technologies to support logistics processes has not yet become widespread.

Keywords: Logistics 4.0; Industry 4.0; digital technologies; manufacturing; exploratory survey.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISM.2022.121909

International Journal of Integrated Supply Management, 2022 Vol.15 No.2, pp.121 - 150

Received: 27 Jan 2021
Accepted: 26 Mar 2021
Published online: 07 Apr 2022 *

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