How do different Industry 4.0 technologies support certain Circular Economy practices?

Abstract

PurposeUncovering the relationship between Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies and circular economy (CE) practices is critical not only for implementing CE but also for leveraging I4.0 to achieve sustainable development goals. However, the potential connection between them – especially how different I4.0 technologies may influence various CE practices – remains inadequately researched. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively explore the impacts of various I4.0 technologies on CE practices.Design/methodology/approachA mixed method consisting of a systematic literature review, content analysis, and social network analysis was adopted. First, 266 articles were selected and mined for contents of I4.0 technologies and CE practices; 27 I4.0 technologies and 21 CE practices were identified. Second, 62 articles were found that prove the positive influence of I4.0 technologies on CE practices, and 124 relationships were identified. Third, based on evidence supporting the link between I4.0 technologies and CE practices, a two-mode network and two one-mode networks were constructed, and their network density and degree centrality indicators were analyzed.FindingsI4.0 technologies have a low application scope and degree for promoting CE. The adoption of a single I4.0 technology has limited effect on CE practices, and wider benefits can be realized through integrating I4.0 technologies. The Internet of Things (IoT), additive manufacturing, big data and analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) are among the top technologies promoting CE implementation and reduction and recycling were identified as the main mechanism. The integration of these technologies is the most popular and effective. Twelve CE practices were identified to be the most widely implemented and supported by I4.0 technologies.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, only journal articles, reviews, and online publications written in English were selected, excluding articles published in other languages. Therefore, the results obtained only represent a specific group of scholars, which may be fragmented to a certain extent. Second, because the extraction of the impact of I4.0 on CE mainly relies on a manual literature review, this paper only provides the statistics of the number of publications involving relationships, while lacking the weight measurement of relationships.Originality/valueA comprehensive, quantitative, and visual analysis method was employed to unveil the current implementation levels of I4.0 technologies and CE practices. Further, it was explored how different I4.0 technologies can affect various CE aspects, how different I4.0 technologies are integrated to promote CE realization, and how various CE practices are implemented simultaneously by I4.0 technologies.

The role of digital technologies in supporting the implementation of circular economy practices by industrial small and medium enterprises

“…However, the current debate on the topic is characterised by the fact that both DTs and CE practices are addressed from a general perspective, i.e., without detail on specific DTs or CE practices (Hettiarachchi, Seuring, & Brandenburg, 2022; Lei et al, 2022; Taddei et al, 2022). Interestingly, efforts considering the specificity of DTs or CE practices are present and are increasing in number, yet they mainly focus on selected DTs or CE practices (Bressanelli et al, 2022; Ertz et al, 2022; Gebhardt et al, 2022; Patyal et al, 2022; Rusch et al, 2022).…”

“…The adoption of DTs, and especially the integration of different DTs, might prove challenging for industrial SMEs (Lei et al, 2022), as they are usually characterised by a limited availability of resources (Micheli et al, 2021) such as financial resources and managerial competences. This might lead SMEs to adopt fewer DTs than larger firms (Aldrighetti et al, 2022; Schöggl et al, 2023).…”

“…On the one hand, many studies address the two concepts of DTs and CE practices from a general perspective, thus neither underlying nor investigating the peculiarities of different DTs and CE practices; on the other hand, many studies only focus on selected DTs or CE practices, thus missing a comprehensive perspective on the topic (Cagno et al, 2021). A more holistic perspective on the relationship is thus needed (Lei et al, 2022), considering not only a large set of DTs and CE practices but also the possible integration (i.e. synergies) among DTs in supporting the implementation of CE practices (de Felice & Petrillo, 2021; Ertz et al, 2022; Trevisan, Zacharias, Castro, & Mascarenhas, 2021).…”

The impact of dynamic capabilities on circular economy: the mediating effect of the industrial Internet of things

“…Although numerous scholars proved the positive relationship between DC, the IIoT and CE (Belhadi et al, 2022;Bocken and Konietzko, 2022;Chari et al, 2022;Lei et al, 2022;Magrini et al, 2021;Rejeb et al, 2022), this study is the first one in CE and supply chain management literature that covers the relationship between DC, the IIoT and CE with the current model. This paper mainly aims to explore the impact of DC on the IIoT and the direct impact on CE in SMMEs and identify the indirect impact of the IIoT.…”

Achieving carbon neutrality with smart supply chain management: a CE imperative for the petroleum industry

“…In this regulation, the government put an emission limit on the production process, and organizations must purchase a permit for higher emissions. The development of green technology and corresponding emission reductions in developed countries provide a step forward in achieving carbon neutral environment (Lei et al, 2023;Chen et al, 2021). However, such regulations are limited in the domain of CE and smart SC for the petroleum sector.…”