CHAPTER 4

The Impact of the Internet of Things on Supply

Chain 4.0
A Review and Bibliometric Analysis
Sema Kayapinar Kaya,1,* Turan Paksoy2 and Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes3

1. Introduction

Supply Chain (SC) has a very extensive and dynamic structure that incorporates new business models, new customer
expectations, market searches, and technological developments. With the emergence of Industry 4.0, SC had to bring
about some changes to keep up with the innovations that Industry 4.0 has brought. Industry 4.0 has relocated the SC and
logistics into a digital environment and restructured it. All the processes in SC have been restructured within the framework
of Industry 4.0, from raw material procurement to production line and till the last step that the product reaches the final
customer. With the Industry 4.0, SC is digitized and renewed with more advanced technological equipment. Today, 28%
of SC companies seem to have advanced digital technology. Digital Supply Chain (DSC) and logistics sectors have a
share of 41%, particularly in the automotive industry and 45% in the electronics sector. Within the framework of Industry
4.0, many SC companies have planned to invest 5% of their annual revenues in technological investments until the year
2020 (Zuberer 2016).
The most significant change in SC has occurred with the tracking of objects throughout SC. This new concept, called
IoT, shortly Radio Frequency Identification System (RFID), is defined as objects that communicate and share information
with each other through sensors and various communication protocols. It is assumed that the camera system was the first
step in IoT. This camera system was set up for the first time in 1991 by about 15 researchers at Cambridge University to
monitor the coffee machine from their rooms. Then, in 1999, with Kevin Ashton using RFID technology in the Auto-ID
Laboratory of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the IoT was used for the first time (Ashton 2009). Procter &
Gamble implemented IoT technology in the SC industry for the first time in 1999. Thanks to RFID placed on the products,
product tracking was made instantaneously throughout the SC. On this topic, DHL (logistics service provider) and Cisco
(Information server provider) prepared a new trend report on the IoT. According to this report, by the year 2020, 50 billion
devices will be connected via the internet, which is expected to lead to a significant development in business technology.
According to Cisco’s economic analysis, IoT will generate $ 8 trillion in worldwide revenues over the next decade, with
revenue of $ 1.9 trillion for supply chains and SC activities. According to Cisco’s report, the number of devices connected
to the IoT is estimated to be 3.47 million in 2015, while the number of devices connected per capita is expected to be 6.58
million in 2020 (Cisco 2015). The number of devices connected per capita is shown in Figure 1.
With the IoT, SC operators, corporate customers, and end consumers can be provided with remote access. Thus,
problems arising in operational services, transportation safety, customer satisfaction, and new business models can be
easily detected. The IoT in the SC Sector has been examined in four different structural processes as production design,
customers, suppliers, and equipment procurement, which are shown in Figure 2.

1
Department of Industrial Engineering, Munzur University, Tunceli, Turkey.
2
Department of Industrial Engineering, Konya Technical University, Konya, Turkey.
3
Centre for Supply Chain Improvement, University of Derby, Derby, United Kingdom.
* Corresponding author: [email protected]
36 Logistics 4.0: Digital Transformation of Supply Chain Management

2003 2010 2015 2020

World 6.3 Billion 6.8 Billion 7.2 Billion 7.6 Billion
Population
Connected
500 Million 12.5 Billion 25 Billion 50 Billion
Devices

Connected
Devices per 0.08 1.84 3.47 6.58
person
Fig. 1: Number of devices connected to the IoT.

Digital
Digital LogisticsManagement
Logistics Management

Business-to-business (B2B)
Business to customer
iness-to-business (B2C)
(B2B) Product
Product designer
designer
iness to customer (B2C)

• Highflexibility
High flexibility • Built-in
Built-inintelligence
intelligence
• Intuitiveoperation
Intuitive operation • Real-time
Real-timecapacity
capacity
• Human-robot
Human-robotcooperation
cooperation • Traceability
Traceability
• Intelligent
Intelligentcontrol
control • Completeness
Completeness

• Cyber
Cyber security
security • Complete
 Completecross-linkage
cross-linkage
• Cloud
Cloud computing
computing • Cyber-physical
 Cyber-physicalsystem
system
• Big data
 Big data • Self-configuration
 Self-configuration
Equipment • Wireless
Wireless technology
technology • Addive
 Addivemanufacturing
manufacturing
Product designer
suppliers Suppliers
Suppliers

Fig. 2: IoT Logistics Management (Sadıkzade 2016).

Together with the IoT, companies will have a low-cost opportunity in storage, transportation, and all other SC
activities. In following the storage, pallets, and vehicles in communication with each other, there can be a smaller, more
efficient storage policy. International transport, tracking, and monitoring of products can be faster, more precise, more
reliable, and errors can automatically be detected with the product tracking system. The material flows within the SC are
monitored instantaneously, making transportation and handling processes easier, minimizing the risks in transportation.
With the IoT, SC will be digitized, which will significantly contribute to the delivery of the products to the customer at
the right time, the right place, and the right quality, and the SC process will be facilitated in all its aspects.
This study begins by asking how Industry 4.0 affects SC and what kind of roles IoT and big data play in SC industry.
Section 2 presents the Industrial Revolution and its historical development and the emergence of Industry 4.0. Section
3 offers the work-study and application areas of Supply Chain 4.0. Then, the literature review of IoT and Supply Chain
within the scope of Industry 4.0 are included in Section 4. The finding of Bibliometric mapping and clustering analysis
are presented in the Section 5. Finally, Section 6 concludes the results and provide some directions of the future studies.

2. Historical Development of the Industrial Revolution and The Emergence of

Industry 4.0

Four different industrial revolutions have emerged up until today. The first Industrial Revolution began with the
mechanization of weaving looms in England in the early 1760s. The most important source of energy in the transition from
 The Impact of the Internet of Things on Supply Chain 4.0 37

simple workshop production to factory production was coal and steam power. Textile, steam machine, and iron are the
three most important elements of this period. During this period, steam machines started to be used in the textile industry,
and raw materials were supplied with steam trains and ships. With the increase in transportation means, the spread of the
Industrial Revolution to Europe gained speed. The First Industrial Revolution, based in England, contributed to the increase
in national income in these countries by creating new wealth holders in the USA, especially in Europe. With the increase
in labor and capital needed, migration from rural to urban areas increased, and urbanization was accelerated (Jensen 1993).
The Second Industrial Revolution covers a period starting from 1870 up until 1914. This period began with the
widespread use of cheap steel production methods invented by British Inventor H. Bessemer. In this period, steel, electricity,
petroleum, and chemical substances were started to be used instead of steam and coal in manufacturing. Henry Ford, who is
known as the father of mass production, left his mark on this period and enabled the widespread use of the manufacturing
assembly line system in the automotive sector. During the same period, electronic computers were used for the first time,
and Graham Bell expanded the communication network with the invention of the telephone. Railway transportation and
trade accelerated by using steel instead of iron in production. The use of electricity in factories and cities began with
Edison in 1882. Then, electric machines took part in production (Engelman 2018).
The Third Industrial Revolution covers the period starting from 1970 until a decade ago. During this period, automation
in production began with the development of a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). The production process has been
enriched with computer-aided machines and automation-based systems. The automobile industry, mobile phone, internet,
aviation and space technologies, computer-aided design, computer-aided machinery (CNC), and robots have started to
be used in production. With the development of scientific fields such as telecommunication, nuclear energy, laser, fiber
optics, and biogenetics, many innovations have emerged in the field of production (Jacinto 2015). The increase in fossil
energy resources and the rapid depletion of world resources have brought about the issue of environmental awareness and
the use of renewable energy sources. New technologies related to the use of sustainable energy resources (solar, wind,
geothermal, hydraulic energy, etc.) in production have been introduced.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, known as the “Industry 4.0”, was introduced for the first time at the Hannover
Fair in Germany in 2011. Supported by the German Government, this technology has received the support of many
countries, especially the USA and Japan (Pfeiffer 2017). Industry 4.0 has become increasingly concrete and has been
implemented in many areas, such as production, in particular, supply chain, food, health, etc. With the transition to the
Fourth Industrial Revolution, rapid automation in production, robotic systems, and digitization has positively affected the
global economy. The biggest goal of the Industry 4.0 is to develop a robotic-based manufacturing system in which various
machines within a factory can communicate with each other, detect ambient conditions (heat, humidity, energy, weather,
etc.), and by analyzing the data they gather, detects the needs of the system. In this way, it aims to make high quality,
more flexible, and low-cost production in a swift manner. Industry 4.0 has created an impact on cost, human resources,
management efficiency, and benefit in terms of technology for the ever-evolving and growing SC sector. Industry 4.0 is
the fourth industrial revolution that consists of many innovations such as the transfer of the production process entirely
to the robots, the development of artificial intelligence and Internet technology, the use of three and four-dimensional
printers in production, the sorting out and evaluation of massive data by data analysis, and smart objects communicating
with each other. Industry 4.0 brings many benefits, such as higher degrees of integration, facilitation of transmission,
higher throughput in a given time delay, and greater process transparency in the entire system for production, inventory
management, SC, and a quality economic system. Although Industry 4.0 provides many advantages to production, business
models, and technology, it has a negative effect on employment, economic conditions, and data security. Kovacs (2018)
has analyzed the dark corners of the development of Industry 4.0 and its effects on the digital economy.
Cyber-Physical Production System (CPPS) provides the integration of the physical environment with the virtual
environment (Hermann et al. 2016). CPPS is the complex dimensional structure that works together with the IoT.
Industry 4.0 consists of nine main components, which are given in Figure 3. Industry 4.0 is a comprehensive
Industrial Revolution comprising all these components. The main components forming the Fourth Industrial Revolution
is illustrated in Figure 4. Industry 4.0 is a collection of systems consisting of many different technological components
(Hermann et al. 2016).

2.1 Industry 4.0 Components

Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS): CPPS aims to connect the physical world to the virtual information system
with the help of sensors and actuators. Data is communicated between computer terminals, wireless devices, and cloud
systems. Thanks to the complex and dynamic CPPS, production process activities (planning, analysis, modeling, design,
implementation, and maintenance) can work together. With CPPS, the physical work environment and the virtual information
system are synchronized with each other. In this way, the monitoring and control of the production process can be more
38 Logistics 4.0: Digital Transformation of Supply Chain Management

Industry 2.0 Industry 4.0

*Serial production *Electronic devices *Cyber-Physical

*Mechanical *Use of assembly *Computer-based production systems
production facilities lines automation *Internet of Things
were working with *Electricity *CNC workbenches *Smart Factories
water and steam generation *Robots Automation
power. *The invention of the *Autonomous Robots
* Programming *Cloud computing
*The first mechanical phone artificial intelligence
*Electronic machines *Big Data Analysis
computers

Industry 1.0 Industry 3.0

Fig. 3: Historical Development of Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0 2015).

Internet of
Things
Cyberphysical Smart
Factory

Cloud
Simulation
computing
Industry 4.0

3D Augmented
Printing reality

Autonomous
robots Big data

Fig. 4: Industry 4.0 Components (Hermann et al. 2016).

transparent and effective. The development of CPPS is evaluated in three major stages. In the first stage, identifying
technologies, such as RFID tags, are developed. Thus, a centralized service provider does the storage and analysis of the
data. In the second stage, dynamic data can be collected in a limited range with sensors and actuators. In the third stage of
development, the data are stored and analyzed with multiple sensors and actuators, and a smarter network system can be
received. CPPS fulfills active and dynamic requirements in manufacturing and plays a major role in the overall efficiency
of the industry (Lu 2017).
Internet of Things:The term IoT, which emerged in the early 21stcentury, is the most important technological component of the basic
philosophy of Industry 4.0. The IoT is also referred to as the communication network in which physical objects are interconnected
with each other or with larger systems. The IoT and “smart products” are two terms that are used interchangeably (McFarlane
et al. 2003). Smart products can communicate with each other with the help of embedded RFID or sensors and store and
analyze the data they receive from the environment. Different researchers have defined smart products over time. Accordingly,
McFarlane and others (2003) defined smart products as both physical and information-based products. Tags and RFID readers
do the data flow between physical products and information. Venta (2007) refers to smart products as products with the
ability to make decisions. Smart products can interpret and analyze the data they have. They interacts with the environment
and can present the information in their environment to the user as instant visual information, when necessary. Today, smart
products supported by new technologies can inform the user about all the processes from production to final consumption.
 The Impact of the Internet of Things on Supply Chain 4.0 39

 PEID (Data device

Embedded
embedded product) product
 Product with RFID
Data / Information
 Data processing
 Memory
 Power Notification
 Communication unit Information
 Unit Sensor

Information
demand
 PEID reader
 PDA
 Fixed reader with antenna
reader with
antenna
Fig. 5: Product lifecycle process (Kiritsis 2011).

Hribernik et al. (2011) illustrated the working principle of smart products as the product life-cycle process (Figure 5).
RFID and sensor-embedded devices collect information from their environment wirelessly, with the help of readers and
wireless technology. These devices monitor the entire life-cycle process from product assembly to the final use stage.
The product has a built-in driver, display screen, main unit, ISDN modem, processor, and motherboard. Each item can be
monitored independently, and the instantaneous information is collected and stored. Product tracking and storage are done
using Electronic Code Information Services (EPCIS) or PROMISE Message Interface (PMI). EPCIS and PMI devices
record the production time, location, assembly, and disassembly processes of the product. Product lifecycle information
is collected with personalized mobile devices and product information readers installed in computers. The collected
information is sent to the product life-cycle system from each point (retailer, distributor, recycler, etc.) via the internet.
With this system, product life-cycle information can be supplied individually or collectively at any time (Kiritsis 2011).
Smart Factories: Smart Factories are digital-based factories that emerge at the point where data processing meets with
the production process. The manufacturing process envisaged by Industry 4.0 is a fully automated production system
that can run fully automatically without human intervention. In these factories, smart robots carry out production. These
robots recognize the materials that are moving on the traditional production line with RFID and sensor tags. They also
know which processes they need to go through (Thoben et al. 2017). Machines can communicate with each other and can
obtain any data via a central computer. In this way, a product can be processed on the same production line and tracked
without any error. IoT technology plays an important role in establishing smart factories. The virtualized factory with the
Internet of objects is integrated into the system digitized with CPPS. The IoT platform acts as a cloud computing system
that collects real-time data and can track the data in the factory at any moment (Lee and Lee 2015).
Big Data: Big data is the general name for voluminous, gigantic, defined or undefined data. Vast amounts of data that are
beyond imagination are produced daily in a variety of sectors, such as health, management, social networks (Facebook,
MSN, etc.), marketing, finance, and so on. Since this collected data is nothing but piles of data, unless interpreted, it is
extremely important to analyze this data quickly and in a comprehensible way. Previously, businesses did not prefer retaining
their data in their archives for long periods, and they did not analyze their data sets. However, with new technological
developments, data can be analyzed, stored and made available in a safe environment. In this way, companies can see the
important competitive data, develop new insights, and customize the services they provide to their customers (Mazzei
and Noble 2017). As an example of the work done on big data in the SC sector, the data from the vehicle that is tracked
using sensors, the wireless adapter, and the GPS is collected in an internet environment. Thanks to this data, the Supply
chain department can monitor drivers and guide them by determining the shortest route. In addition, bus companies can
analyze the data they receive from the passengers, design a more efficient transportation plan, and determine the travel
frequency and optimum travel time. With big data mining method, they can categorize the estimated number of passengers
and make more accurate predictions about the estimated demands (Oussous et al. 2017).
Cloud Computing: Cloud computing is the general name for Internet-based computing services that provide computing
resources that can be used at any time and shared among users, for computers and other devices. It is the general name of
the system that users can access from anywhere with an internet (Schouten 2014). The most well-known cloud-computing
example is the Office 365 service that organizes and stores MS office documents.
40 Logistics 4.0: Digital Transformation of Supply Chain Management

Autonomous Robots: Autonomous robots are robotic systems with a certain intelligence, supported by artificial intelligence
technology. Based on artificial intelligence, these autonomous robots, which can detect the environment, that can be
implemented very comfortably in production systems and which can make their own decisions with this technology, are
the key technology for Industry 4.0. With autonomous robots, production benches that can be positioned at any point within
the factory on demand will replace the stationary benches in the factories of future and humanoid robots will emerge,
perceive the environment and become able to talk to each other (Yazıcı 2016).
3D Printers: Three-dimensional printers are the production tools of the new era that work with laser or inkjet printer logic,
transforming products from digital media into a solid three-dimensional object in a “layer-based” structure defined as
“additive manufacturing” (Berman 2012). For example, a free-moving ball bearing can be produced in a 3D-printer as a
single piece with its balls. Additive manufacturing, unlike the subtractive production process, allows production without
resorting to any cutting, drilling or grinding process. This means that even producing complex objects becomes much
easier (Berman 2012). The technology that most manufacturers use in prototype production, especially since it provides
flexibility, low cost and time saving, has now initiated a revolution that will enable final consumers to manufacture in
their homes (Çallı and Taşkın 2015).
Simulation and Virtual Reality: Simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world system or process in a computer
platform. Simulation enables the generation of an artificial history of the system and the observation of that artificial
history to draw inferences concerning the operating characteristics of the real system. Simulation or Virtual Reality began
in 1962 with a device called Sensora, developed by Morton Heilig, and it has been extended to the daily Google Glass
project. Virtual reality is a term used for computer-aided 3D environments where users experience the feeling of being in
the designed environment. With Industry 4.0, a virtual copy of the smart production facilities is made in 3D, and the data
coming from the sensors is transferred into the simulation environment. In this context, the dark factories of Siemens,
HTC’s virtual reality glasses, and Caterpillar augmented reality demo can be given as examples. With virtual reality and
simulation, the physical systems of the factories will be monitored through web-based systems, and smart technology
applications will proliferate (History of Virtual Reality 2017).

3. Towards Supply Chain 4.0

Although Industry 4.0 first emerged as a manufacturing-based approach, it has also affected many industries associated
with manufacturing. Considering that manufacturing and SC form an inseparable whole, it is envisaged that Industry
4.0 will also reshape the SC Sector and bring a different perspective to it. The fact that machines and objects are in
communication with one another with instant access to data within Industry 4.0 makes SC services more efficient.
In the SC and manufacturing sector, computer-aided team systems and autonomous robots will decrease the time
spent on production, and the resources will be used more efficiently. Remote-controlled vehicles and products will
be able to reach the customers in a shorter time. Especially the IoT technology, one of the components of Industry
4.0, leads to great innovations in transportation and the SC Sector. The IoT contributes positively to all stages of SC,
starting from production to the delivery of the final product to the customer. With the aid of RFID, sensors, Global
Positioning Systems (GPS), data collected during the SC process can be tracked through an internet-based system.
In this way, SC activities can be faster, more flexible, and transparent (Tadejko 2015). There are many kinds of
research on the use of IoT in the supply chain industry in various fields. Kong et al. (2018), Leng et al. (2018), Accorsi
et al. (2018), Tian (2018), Pal and Kant (2018), Yan et al. (2017), Zhang et al. (2017), and Yan (2017) focused on the
perishable and fresh agricultural food supply chain by combining IoT technologies. Tsai et al. (2018), Lue et al. (2016),
and Chan et al. (2014) developed an intelligent tracking system to enhance the cold supply chain.
Supply Chain 4.0 (also known as Digital Supply Chain) came out with the emergence of Industry 4.0 for factories.
Mainly IoT and Big Data drive it. With the mix, complementary technologies such as RFID, sensors, GPS, Electronic Data
Interchange (EDI), and information-sensing equipment, can be easily tracked throughout SC activities. It is important for
them to have seven major requirements that are the right quality, at the right time, at the right place and the right good
with the right quantity and in the right condition and at the right price for SC management. By estimating the information
from the products and materials, the accidents that can occur in the SC process can be predicted, and the warning can be
given ahead (Gnimpieba et al. 2015).
IoT is used in all processes from supplier supply to material handling, transportation of materials, production to
reaching latest customers (Figure 6). IoT can optimize whole process of Transportation Management System (TMS). By
integrating GPS technology placed into transport vehicles, it can monitor and learn all the relevant information (e.g., route,
shipping conditions, and status of shipment) related to the smart goods being transported. The Internet of Objects detects
 The Impact of the Internet of Things on Supply Chain 4.0 41

Suppliers
Big
Data
Sensor Advanced
manufacturing Big Data
system

GPS
Sensor
3D Printing Advanced Real time robot
materials

Fig. 6: Supply Chain 4.0 configuration.

return errors and reduces return and damaged product costs (Macaulay et al. 2015). The material coming to the factory
starts the production process with real-time production plan. IoT technologies make decisions that are more optimistic
and faster than the other producers and can make these decisions faster for both their staff and their employees. When the
machines are connected to each other (M2M), the generated data is rapidly transferred to each other through high-speed
internet support via software that generates the data of each device, and it is possible to make faster and more effective
decisions by looking at the results obtained from the data. These decisions are transferred both to the staff at work and
the manager who follows the job and to all the devices, and thus a synchronized working environment is provided. IoT
plays a big role in the customer relations after the product reaches the customer. It provides data and information that
can be used to enhance the consumer experience, provide insight into consumer behavior, which would result in a better
understanding of the consumers and help enhance interaction and engagement with consumers. The application areas of
Supply Chain 4.0 are presented in Table 1.

4. Literature Reviews of Supply Chain 4.0 based on IoT

The potential use of IoT technology across the supply chain is huge. The IoT enabled supply chain can be visualized as a
smart interconnected network that binds together many levels of suppliers, manufacturers, service providers, distributors,
and customers physically located across different areas of the world.
In this section, we categorized literature reviews of IoT and SC, and present several summary statistics into five
categories based on sources, publications type, published place, journals and conferences type, application fields, and
authors. As part of the expansive concept of Industry 4.0, “Supply Chain 4.0” is called a new paradigm by numerous authors
and experts. In this review, these keywords are “Internet of Thing”, “IoT”, and “Supply Chain”, respectively. The search
was performed in the Scopus Database on 10 November 2018. It was possible to download the “title”, “key-words”, and
“abstract” from all the 806 documents, including article, conference paper, book chapter, etc., between 2007–2018 years.
The reviewed literature included journal articles, conference papers, and edited volumes.

4.1 Literature Review over time

The distribution of papers based on publication year is presented with respect to the years in Figure 7 from 2007 to 2018,
the number of relevant publications gradually increased, except for the year 2015. This analysis indicates that while the
research area is still in the stage of development, the concern of this research has progressively grown in recent years. In
the following sections, all articles are summarized and reviewed based on various criteria including; literature sources,
publication type, geographic location, journals and conference type, application fields, and most cited authors.
42 Logistics 4.0: Digital Transformation of Supply Chain Management

Table 1: Contributions and applications of the IoT to Supply Chain 4.0.

Field Applications
Manufacturing  With the IoT, real-time Material Requirements Planning is done by obtaining real-time information from
the operator, pallet, material, machine, etc., in the manufacturing process. Since the material order time
is known, the procurement period can also be estimated from the supplier.
 Production lines are synchronized by sending information to each other, failures, delays, and errors are
minimized in the production process. Reduction of waste, loss, and scrap is aimed.
 Multiple and different kinds of products can be produced at the same time with manufacturing line
systems that are able to exchange information with the other components; thus customer satisfaction will
be increased (Shariatzadeh et al. 2016).
Vehicle tracking  With the information collected by sensors, GPS, and RFID, vehicles can be monitored instantaneously.
In this way, transportation time and transportation routes are optimized. With Google Maps and API
smartphone, the image of the car and its location will be visually recorded by logistics providers (Lee et
al. 2009).
Warehouse  The quantity and amount of raw materials remaining in the warehouse are monitored instantaneously,
Management and the movement of the objects can be monitored easily. In this way, the quantity of the remaining
product, the number of products ordered, the number of products and materials needed can be obtained
in an up-to-date and swift manner.
 Smart heat and lighting systems are added to the warehouse to save energy and expenses.
 The speed of the forklift used in product transport in the warehouse can be controlled with sensors, and
the risk of accidents can be minimized.
 With intelligent conveyor and separating systems, products and materials can be easily separated, and
components are placed in the places where they belong more easily and in a shorter time (Lee 2015).
Risk  Tracking of products carried throughout the Supply Chain is done with embedded RFID and sensors.
Management With the signals coming from these devices, it is easy to know at which stage and where the product is.
This will reduce the loss of value of the products that are perishable and have a short lifetime. The risk
share from deterioration will be minimized, and the risk cost will be minimized (Lee 2015).
Reverse Logistics  By managing all the data about the product lifecycle, many uncertainties in logistics activities are
Activities eliminated. Thanks to RFID, sensors, and similar devices, it will be possible to determine which
recycling stage (repair, disassembly, waste, etc.) the expired product should be exposed to. In this way,
most of the uncertainties in reverse logistics activities will be eliminated, and the logistics cost will be
minimized (Gu and Liu 2013).
Informatics  It prevents the loss of information by providing all kinds of information about the products that move
through the Supply Chain processes and by making it possible for the products to be stored and shared
by the Supply Chain elements. As the information obtained is up to date, the bullwhip effect in the
Supply Chain is decreased.
Fleet  Trucks and containers can be monitored with sensors. Thanks to effective fleet management and sensors,
Management it is an important factor in increasing profitability by providing substantial fuel savings (Sadıkzade
2016).
Environmental  With the IoT, the carbon footprint of the products is easily recorded. This allows access to the
Awareness commercial history record of the carbon loan that provides compliance with environmental regulations.
This is an important step in terms of Green Supply Chain (GSC) (Gu and Liu 2013).

Fig. 7: Published papers between 2007–2018 from Scopus database.

 The Impact of the Internet of Things on Supply Chain 4.0 43

4.2 Contribution to the Literature from Various Sources

This review will help us determine the significant concern of research areas where gaps are obvious. As shown in Figure 8,
much of the work being done on the IoT and SC is widespread among conference papers (50.5%). Most of these papers
were presented at technical and engineering conferences that were abstracted by the IEEE Xplore Library. Such papers
are much more commonplace and encouraged in engineering than they are in other fields. Many of the articles are
published in information and computer fields. These papers were reviewed and presented the most common sources that
are represented in Figure 9. The most contributed sources are Applied Mechanical and Materials, Advanced Materials
Research, Communications in Computer and Information Science. After an in-depth analysis of the case articles, the
studies carried out in the field area of SC is present in Figure 9, in which the most studied subjects are “RFID” and “SC
and supply chain operations”, and the least studied subjects are production, cold SC, and inbound SC activities.

Fig. 8: Review literature by publication type.

Fig. 9: Papers per year by sources.

4.3 Distribution of Papers by Geography

Investigation of the geographic location for academic research containing IoT and SC is presented in Figure 10. According
to this study, the vast majority of the IoT and SC focused articles and conference papers are held in China, the United
States, and the United Kingdom. Although the Industry 4.0 concepts emerged for the first time in Germany, many studies
on this field have been published mostly in China. Most papers are published in Far East Asia and Europe, with very
limited representation in South America, the Middle East region and Africa.
44 Logistics 4.0: Digital Transformation of Supply Chain Management

Fig. 10: Country ranking based on publication numbers.

4.4 Distribution of Paper by Approaches and Application Fields

This corresponds to the disproportionate representation of engineering conferences and journals that are currently developing
the IoT literature. Based on datasets, we classified articles into sixteen approaches and application fields, which are the most
published fields presented in Figure 11. The most popular fields are computer sciences, engineering, business management
and accounting, mathematics, decision sciences, social sciences, physics, and astronomy.

Fig. 11: Distribution of papers with the highest contributions in publishing IoT and logistics topics.

4.5 Citation Report of Authors

One of the most important criteria of the research is the impact of the paper on other scientific environments. The author’s
analysis can be a good measure to evaluate the impacts of the publications. Figure 12 represents the most contributing
authors in the fields. According to results, Li Rang Zheng, George Huang is the most productive authors in this field.
Zheng reviewed the highest number of papers according to other literature reviews. Zheng and Han cooporate together,
and they work on the food supply chain, agriculture, IoT. George Q. Huang focuses on IoT, Big data, decision making,
and production Supply Chain system; Yang’s studies are related to IoT, RFID, and agriculture supply chain.
 The Impact of the Internet of Things on Supply Chain 4.0 45

Fig. 12: Document counts for top authors.

5. Bibliometric Mapping and Clustering Analysis

Analysis has a similar property, that it provides an insight into the structure of a network, which is used in bibliometric
research. These techniques are based on similar principles and play a significant role in identifying and classify groups of
publications, terms, authors, and journals. When we deal with a great number of data, the clustering and mapping solution
can easily analyze and interpret many millions of publications and their related terms. Clustering analysis is the classification
of a set of elements into subsets so that elements in the same cluster are in common. It is a statistical method and can be
efficiently used in many fields, such as big data, machine learning, text mining, pattern recognition, image analysis, and
bioinformatics (Van Eck and Waltman 2018). In this study, VOS viewer 1.6.9 software was used to construct and illustrated
for bibliometric networks based on keywords, and all information was exported in the CSV file in Excel data analysis.

5.1 Keywords Co-occurrence Analysis

Keywords co-occurrence can effectively indicate the hot research topics in the discipline fields. All the 806 Supply chain
and IoT–related publications have a total of 176 keywords; among them, only 59 selected keywords appeared in Figure 13.
The node with the same color belongs to the same cluster; therefore, the VOS viewer divided the keywords of publications
into three clusters. The node size expresses the magnitude of the occurrence of keywords, and the line between two
keywords represents that there is a relationship between them. The length of the link between the two keywords indicates
the intensity of the relationship between them. A shorter distance means a stronger relationship (Perianes-Rodriguez et
al. 2016). A qualitative index indicates the occurrence of the use of keywords. The most used keywords include “Internet
of Things” (243), “RFID” (115), “Supply Chain” (89), “IoT” (80), “Industry 4.0” (28), “big data” (27), “traceability”
(26), and “cloud computing” (25). According to the keywords network, the relationships between “supply chain”, “big
data”, and “blockchain” reflect that development trends in security and transparency in supply chain management. The
relationships between “blockchain”, “cryptography” and “privacy” show that researchers are greatly interested in how
blockchains might convert the supply chain management. “IoT”, “big data”, “industry 4.0”, “industry IoT”, and “cyber-
physical systems” have an increasing importance on supply chain management for the last two years. Researchers focus
on how the “industrial” application of the Internet of Things (IIoT) is transforming supply chains.

5.2 Co-authorship Analysis

Country co-authorship analysis can help to understand the degree of communication between countries and as well as the
influential countries in “Supply chain” and “IoT” fields. The collaboration network of publishing during the period from
2007 to 2018 is presented in Figure 14. Node size indicates the publication rate by each country, and lines represent the
level of cooperation among countries (Reyes et al. 2016). The top research center in the field is in China and the United
States. The link strength between China and The United States is 20, between the USA and Germany it is 6, between the
46 Logistics 4.0: Digital Transformation of Supply Chain Management

Fig. 13: Combined mapping and clustering publications of keywords.

Fig. 14: Co-authorship analysis based on the country.

USA and the UK it is 7, between Australia and China, it is 6. This result shows that countries that have the same geographic
do not affect the authors’ collaboration. The researchers located in South-America, the Middle East, and Africa have an
inadequate publication based on these fields.
 The Impact of the Internet of Things on Supply Chain 4.0 47

5.3 The Cited Publication Analysis Based on Supply Chain and IoT
Table 2 indicates the most cited or influential papers in terms of the author’s name, publication year, publication title,
and citation numbers. Two highly cited papers are related to the “Internet of Things” and its challenges. All these papers
were made individually. Overlay visualization of cited authors is shown in Figure 15, node size represents the number of
citations, and the proximity of the nodes is related to the partnership of the authors.

Table 2: The top-cited articles.

Authors Year Publications name Citations number

Weber 2010 Internet of Things-new security and privacy challenges 492
Lee 2015 The internet of things (IoT): applications, investments, and challenges for enterprises 212
Xu 2011 Information architecture for supply chain quality management 166
Wolfert 2017 Big data in smart farming—a review 95
Theisse 2009 Technology, standards, and real-world deployments of the epc network 81

5.4 Co-citations Analysis Based on Sources

The co-citations analysis reveals the total strength of the co-citation links with other sources. Figure 16
presents the journal co-citations network with 69 nodes. These node sizes represent the greatest link strength and the number
of published papers. The distance between the nodes indicates the citation frequency. According to co-citation analysis,
all these journals are divided into six clusters having different colors. While the green cluster represents information and
computer journals, the red cluster consists of operational and production journals. International journal of production
economics has the most links (62) to other journals and citations (277).

6. Conclusion and Future Studies

This summation will point out some of the most important findings of the research and show some directions for further
studies. Studies on the IoT in the SC industry have gradually increased over years. Since the concept of IoT emerged in
2009, literature studies have increased by almost 20 times. The accelerated growth in IoT in the SC sector means SC 4.0
will continue to spread to every part of business operations, especially in the field of the SC.
With the introduction of IoT in the SC industry, major changes have emerged in almost all areas, especially in
computer science, engineering, and business management. There are few studies focused on the field of reverse SC, social
and business sciences, especially on application studies. There is a need for case studies focusing on sustainable and eco-
friendly concepts for reverse SC management.
While studies on RFID, sensors, and SC activities are emphasized, this chapter identifies four research gaps in the
literature of the digital supply chain, which are a cold chain, food and beverage supply chain, and inbound supply chain.
Through the IoT, all processes and operations in SC will interact with each other by connecting to a network. In this
way, by creating a smart SC, it is possible to increase efficiency and productivity in the supply processes to provide the
products/services demanded by the customer, to gain customer satisfaction, to reduce costs and to keep the quality high.
IoT affects all SC processes. It provides more efficient use and optimization of the Supply Chain 4.0. With the Internet
of objects, SC data management is made more transparent so that processes can be monitored instantaneously. With the
digitalization of the SC industry, unnecessary SC activities will be eliminated, the efficiency of processes will increase,
and the costs will be reduced. Customers’ purchasing behavior will be examined, and the individual expectations and
customer changes will be responded to more quickly. The feedback from customers will be received quickly, and after-sales
services will develop. With real-time data, SC performance can be better monitored, and problems that can be experienced
in processes can be detected quickly. With the devices used within the IoT, transportation and distribution costs will be
reduced. IoT will be ensured in sustainable SC, and the negative effects on the environment will be reduced.
In the upcoming years, the transportation and SC industry is predicted to have vehicles without drivers, ships without
captains, and planes without pilots. With SC 4.0, smart-talking systems, and new technologies will closely affect our
lives and the existing SC system will leave its place to integrated new systems digitized with state-of-the-art technology.
48 Logistics 4.0: Digital Transformation of Supply Chain Management

Fig. 15: Most cited authors.

Fig. 16: The journal co-citations network.

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