Industry 4.0 (I4.0) encompasses a plethora of digital technologies effecting on manufacturing enterprises. Most research on this topic examines the effects in the smart factory domain, focusing on production scheduling. However, there is still a lack of comprehensive research on the applications of I4.0 enabling technologies in manufacturing life-cycle processes. This paper is thus intended to provide a systematic literature review answering the following research question: What are the applications of I4.0 enabling technologies in the business processes of manufacturing companies? The study analyses 186 articles and the results show that production scheduling and control is the process most often investigated, while there is also an increasing trend in servitization and circular supply chain management. Moreover, there is extensive combined use of IoT, Big Data Analytics and Cloud, whose applications cover a wide range of processes. On the contrary, other technology like Blockchain is not as widely discussed in the domain of I4.0. This picture calls for a future research agenda extending the scope of investigation into I4.0 in manufacturing. Furthermore, the results of this research can prove extremely useful for practitioners who wish to implement one or more technologies, providing them with solutions for applications in manufacturing.

Recent studies advocate that digital technologies are key enabling factors for the introduction of servitized business models. At the same time, these technologies support the implementation of the circular economy (CE) paradigm into businesses. Despite this general agreement, the literature still overlooks how digital technologies enable such a CE transition. To fill the gap, this paper develops a conceptual framework, based on the literature and a case study of a company implementing a usage-focused servitized business model in the household appliance industry. This study focuses on the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and analytics, and identifies eight specific functionalities enabled by such technologies (improving product design, attracting target customers, monitoring and tracking product activity, providing technical support, providing preventive and predictive maintenance, optimizing the product usage, upgrading the product, enhancing renovation and end-of-life activities). By investigating how these functionalities affect three CE value drivers (increasing resource efficiency, extending lifespan, and closing the loop), the conceptual framework developed in this paper advances knowledge about the role of digital technologies as an enabler of the CE within usage-focused business models. Finally, this study shows how digital technologies help overcome the drawback of usage-focused business models for the adoption of CE pointed out by previous literature.

Despite companies face several challenges when redesigning their supply chain for the Circular Economy, the literature lacks a systematisation of such challenges and of the ways to overcome them. Through a systematic literature review, this paper identifies and systematises 24 challenges that may hamper a supply chain redesign for the Circular Economy. Sixteen among these challenges are well known from research in related topics. On the contrary, the remaining eight are relatively new or take a different relevance within the Circular Economy context. A multiple case study in the household appliance supply chain is carried out, to explore how these challenges appear in practice and how companies may tackle them. The cases analysed involve actors at different supply chain levels, and findings suggest that a great degree of vertical integration by one actor in the supply chain is not a necessary condition for Circular Economy implementation. The empirical study, in conjunction with the literature analysis, leads to the development of a framework linking the challenges to specific levers that companies may pursue to overcome them. The framework can be seen as a reference for managers undertaking the path towards Circular Economy.