Background: Given the importance of human centricity, resilience, and sustainability, the emerging concept of Industry 5.0 has pushed forward the research frontier of the technology-focused Industry 4.0 to a smart and harmonious socio-economic transition driven by both humans and technologies, where the role of the human in the technological transformation is predominantly focused on. Several studies discuss the impacts of disruptive technologies on smart logistics operations in Industry 4.0. However, since Industry 5.0 is a new concept and still in its infancy, its implications for smart logistics have not been discussed. Methods: To fill this gap, this paper presents a comparative bibliometric analysis to show the connection and differences between Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0 and their implications for smart logistics. A thorough content analysis is then given to illustrate the features of smart logistics in Industry 5.0 concerning four areas, namely intelligent automation, intelligent devices, intelligent systems, and intelligent materials. Results: The results show that, compared with Industry 4.0, the research of smart logistics in Industry 5.0 puts more focus on the interaction between humans and technology in the digital transition, with the increasing adoption of collaborative technologies, e.g., human-machine systems, collaborative robots, and human-robot collaboration. Conclusions: Finally, a research agenda is proposed for identifying future research directions of smart logistics in Industry 5.0.
Background: Systematic literature review (SLR) is increasingly utilized to maximize the element of rigor and minimize the individual bias of research synthesis. An analysis of the Web of Science (WoS) database indicates that 90% of the literature review studies using SLR have been published between 2012 and 2022. However, this progressive agenda is impaired by the lack of methodological consistency and rigorousness. To fill this gap, this paper aims at mapping the theoretical comprehension and practices of SLR and providing a stepwise approach to employing such a framework. Methods: A comprehensive narrative review is used in this paper to analyze the studies concerning the literature review typology and the structural assessment of the SLR. Furthermore, the methodological approach of the literature review studies that adopted the SLR and were published in the Logistics journal is assessed across a set of vital criteria associated with conducting an SLR. Results: There is a concrete link between the purpose of a review, i.e., to describe, test, extend, or critique, and the literature review type. There are 17 distinct literature review types, e.g., a narrative review, a bibliometric analysis, etc., which must be justified meticulously regardless of the SLR. The ambiguity in conceiving the SLR either as a toolkit or a review type, the lack of justification regarding the review purpose and type, and vague conceptual distinguishment between the bibliometric analysis, as a distinct review type, and the SLR framework, are only a few of the shortcomings observed in the analyzed papers. Conclusions: Given the significant role of SLR in elevating the element of rigor within the literature review studies, it is deemed essential to employ this framework by paying attention to two holistic factors: (1) theoretical distinction between the literature review purpose, the literature review type, and the SLR; (2) strict adherence to the SLR procedure with a high degree of accuracy and explicitness.
The broad and extensive application of public-private partnership (PPP), as well as the divergent documented definitions and experiences, have led to a translucent perspective of PPP and strained academia and industry to reach a consensus on the major practice of this concept. Early contractor involvement (ECI), governance tools, and relational contracting are only a few of the frameworks attributed to PPP. This issue has received limited attention from researchers, despite the focus of review studies on different disciplines of PPP. Hence, this paper puts forward the idea of conducting a comprehensive review to not only shed light on the major practice of PPP but also provide a wider outlook on this concept based on the research carried out since 1979. A narrative review is initially accomplished to identify the major drivers and milestones that have contributed to the evolution of PPP. Employing bibliometric analysis in the following phase assists in conducting a multi-dimensional assessment of studies published within the last five decades. The economic and societal practices of PPP throughout its evolution path signified the dominant application of this concept as a business model. The bibliometric analysis revealed that PPP has contributed to various sectors, i.e., urban development, public infrastructure, transportation, health, and education, just to name a few. In addition, economic and organizational management of PPP was revealed as a major research stream that was accompanied by sustainable development. As a matter of fact, economic and environmental sustainability are the major cross-disciplinary elements that form an interplay between the drivers and attributes of PPP. Value for money (VfM), technology, and innovation, along with smart infrastructure (SI) and smart cities (SCs), are identified as the major directions for the future research agenda associated with PPP.
The latest and innovative manufacturing paradigms, i.e., flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS), etc., have provided opportunities to achieve an efficient and effective manufacturing process. However, due to the inherent stochasticity of customer demands as well as other influencing factors, factories are still facing dynamic and complex challenges related to their production management. Among which, machine failure is one of the most significant problems. Therefore, this research investigates a novel solution through incorporating the concept of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) into a manufacturing process, where reconfigurable machines are used to compensate for the production loss of a dedicated production line due to machine failure. A simulation-based approach is developed with the help of FlexSim in order to examine two general configurations with respect to three key performance indicators (KPIs). The results illustrate, by properly adopting the concept and technologies of I4.0, the performance of a manufacturing process can be improved to better react to unexpected events in production. From both technical and operational perspectives, several recommendations for further development are given in this paper.