Recently, the applications of Blockchain technology have begun to revolutionise different aspects of supply chain (SC) management. Among others, Blockchain is a platform to execute the smart contracts in the SC as transactions. We develop and test a new model for smart contract design in the SC with multiple logistics service providers and show that this problem can be presented as a multi-processor flexible flow shop scheduling. A distinctive feature of our approach is that the execution of physical operations is modelled inside the start and completion of cyber information services. We name this modelling concept ‘virtual operation’. The constructed model and the developed experimental environment constitute an event-driven dynamic approach to task and service composition when designing the smart contract. Our approach is also of value when considering the contract execution stage. The use of state control variables in our model allows for operations status updates in the Blockchain that in turn, feeds automated information feedbacks, disruption detection and control of contract execution. The latter launches the re-scheduling procedure, comprehensively combining planning and adaptation decisions within a unified methodological framework of dynamic control theory. The modelling complex developed can be used to design and control smart contracts in the SC.

Smart factories Industry 4.0 on the basis of collaborative cyber-physical systems represents a future form of industrial networks. Supply chains in such networks have dynamic structures which evolve over time. In these settings, short-term supply chain scheduling in smart factories Industry 4.0 is challenged by temporal machine structures, different processing speed at parallel machines and dynamic job arrivals. In this study, for the first time, a dynamic model and algorithm for short-term supply chain scheduling in smart factories Industry 4.0 is presented. The peculiarity of the considered problem is the simultaneous consideration of both machine structure selection and job assignments. The scheduling approach is based on a dynamic non-stationary interpretation of the execution of the jobs and a temporal decomposition of the scheduling problem. The algorithmic realisation is based on a modified form of the continuous maximum principle blended with mathematical optimisation. A detailed theoretical analysis of the temporal decomposition and computational complexity is performed. The optimality conditions as well as the structural properties of the model and the algorithm are investigated. Advantages and limitations of the proposed approach are discussed.

The growth in e-commerce that our society has faced in recent years is changing the view companies have on last-mile logistics, due to its increasing impact on the whole supply chain. New technologies are raising users’ expectations with the need to develop customized delivery experiences; moreover, increasing pressure on supply chains has also created additional challenges for suppliers. At the same time, this phenomenon generates an increase in the impact on the liveability of our cities, due to traffic congestion, the occupation of public spaces, and the environmental and acoustic pollution linked to urban logistics. In this context, the optimization of last-mile deliveries is an imperative not only for companies with parcels that need to be delivered in the urban areas, but also for public administrations that want to guarantee a good quality of life for citizens. In recent years, many scholars have focused on the study of logistics optimization techniques and, in particular, the last mile. In addition to traditional optimization techniques, linked to the disciplines of operations research, the recent advances in the use of sensors and IoT, and the consequent large amount of data that derives from it, are pushing towards a greater use of big data and analytics techniques—such as machine learning and artificial intelligence—which are also in this sector. Based on this premise, the aim of this work is to provide an overview of the most recent literature advances related to last-mile delivery optimization techniques; this is to be used as a baseline for scholars who intend to explore new approaches and techniques in the study of last-mile logistics optimization. A bibliometric analysis and a critical review were conducted in order to highlight the main studied problems, the algorithms used, and the case studies. The results from the analysis allow the studies to be clustered into traditional optimization models, machine learning approaches, and mixed methods. The main research gaps and limitations of the current literature are assessed in order to identify unaddressed challenges and provide research suggestions for future approaches.