Achieving a sustainable shipbuilding supply chain under I4.0 perspective

Abstract

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) considers a number of changes in enterprises, including business models, to achieve the Smart Factory concept. This implies a complete communication network between different companies, factories, suppliers, resources, etc …, maximize in real time to achieve the highest efficiency of all parties involved. The goal is to improve the performance and sustainability of shipbuilding industry through the supply chain establishing a model that defines how the supply chain should be under the perspective of Industry 4.0. Thus, this article aims to connect each of the key enabling I4.0 technologies with the most significant supply chain paradigms: Lean, Agile, Resilience and Green to define what the Shipbuilding Supply Chain should be. This study shows the Green Supply Chain Paradigm connects the social aspects required at the performance I4.0 model. Likewise, Lean represents the most important paradigm, encompassing the Resilience one, besides considering Agile as an intrinsic property of the shipbuilding. At this form, identifying the key factors in the conceptual model, it is possible to conclude that the Shipbuilding Supply Chain should be Green and Lean.