Assessing the Logistic System Maturity Level in Integrated Supply Chains Under Logistic 4.0 Paradigm

Abstract

The fourth industrial revolution and digital technologies have transformed the logistics industry, leading to the emergence of Logistics 4.0 paradigm with interconnected systems, robots, big data analytics, and data-driven decision-making, which is crucial for enhancing supply chain resilience, sustainability, and customer-centricity. In this regard, the need to continuous investment in logistics system maturity assessment and development has been identified. This research article analyzes existing maturity assessment models for business systems, summarizes these models, and discusses their potential transformation under the influence of digitalization. The importance of evaluating maturity levels is highlighted through existing research but emphasizes that merely identifying maturity levels is insufficient, as improvements are necessary following the evaluation. Moreover, existing models that evaluate maturity levels need to improve accounting for industry-specific contexts and provide specific quality indicators rather than focusing on the description of maturity levels. The article aims to develop the theoretical and methodological foundations for the logistics system maturity in integrated supply chain evaluation and provide a framework for organizations to identify areas for improvement with the Logistics 4.0 paradigm. The article's hypotheses suggest that improving such factors as digital transformation, supply chain integration, organizational culture, strategic alignment, human capital, workforce development, partnerships, and collaborations can enhance the maturity level of logistic systems, leading to improved supply chain performance, but some barriers and challenges need to be overcome with the fourth industrial revolution achievements. The mutual influence of the described hypotheses highlights three key areas for evaluating logistics maturity: the level of formalization within the integration process, the maturity of individual participants, and the utilization of opportunities provided by the fourth industrial revolution. The interpretation of integrated logistic system maturity level has been given. The article provides a comprehensive interpretation of the maturity level of integrated logistics systems, which are proposed to identify based on the developed hierarchical model of fuzzy inference. Under the fuzzy model, indicators for assessing different aspects of logistic maturity have been offered, and response scenarios to maturity assessment results have been developed.