Transforming Futuristic Technology Enabled Supply Chain 4.0 – The Next Industrial Revolution

Around the world, traditional manufacturing industry is in the throes of a digital transformation that is accelerated by exponentially growing technologies (e.g. intelligent robots, autonomous drones, sensors, 3D printing). Disruptive innovations are currently changing the landscape of many industries and their business models. Because of increasingly digitalized processes and an exponential growth of sensible data, supply chains are also impacted by the fourth industrial revolution. Behind the scenes of the world’s leading industrial companies, a profound digital transformation is now underway. Industrial leaders are digitizing essential functions and processes. They are enhancing their product portfolio with digital functionalities and are investing in data analytics as a foundational capability to drive innovation and significant improvements in efficiency. In India as well, we see industrial companies planning to dramatically increase their overall level of digitization. Choosing a path through the Futuristic Technology Enabled Supply Chain 4.0 technologies that Industry 4.0 offers is hard enough, but with uncertainties generated by the pandemic COVID-19, perhaps the universe of viable options has become smaller and more manageable, and the business cases clearer. The term ‘Industry 4.0’ stands for the fourth industrial revolution. Other related terms include ‘Industrial Internet’ or ‘digital factory’, although neither takes as complete a view. While Industry 3.0 focused on the automation of single machines and processes, Industry 4.0 concentrates on the end-to-end digitization of all physical assets and their integration into digital ecosystems with value chain partners. Generating, analyzing and communicating data seamlessly underpin the gains promised by Industry 4.0, which networks a wide range of new technologies to create value. The present paper provides a brief overview of exploring opportunities and challenges encountered by the Futuristic Technology Enabled Supply Chain 4.0.