Industry 4.0 technologies and sustainable warehousing: a systematic literature review and future research agenda

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-05-2021-0277
• Published date: 22 February 2022
• Date: 22 February 2022
• Pages: 644-662
• Subject Matter: Management science & operations,Logistics
• Author: Imran Ali,Huy Minh Phan

Industry 4.0 technologies and

sustainable warehousing:

a systematic literature review and

future research agenda

Imran Ali and Huy Minh Phan

School of Business and Law, Central Queensland University–Melbourne Campus,

Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Purpose –Robust and efficient warehouse management is pivotal to the success of contemporary logistics

and business productivity. Given the recent technological revolutions and the rising pressure for sustainable

warehouse activities, the recent literature continues to grow on Industry 4.0 technologies and sustainable

warehousing. Following this, the review aims to explore current state-of-the-art, knowledge development, the

focus of research, methodological development and knowledge gaps for more impactful future research on this

important yet underexplored topic.

Design/methodology/approach –A widely accepted systematic literature review (SLR) methodology was

employed on a sample of 46 articles retrieved from multiple search queries in the three large databases: Scopus,

Web of Science and Google Scholar.

Findings –The authors’analysis unveils several interesting findings: the positive linkage between various

Industry 4.0 technologies and the three main pillars (economic, social, environmental) of sustainable

warehousing; the paucity of large scale empirical research, specifically in the context of COVID-19; imbalance

amid studies on three main aspects of warehouse sustainability; partial application of Industry 4.0

technologies; and disproportion in scholarly focus between numerous warehouse activities and Industry 4.0

technologies.

Practical implications –The authors integrate research findings from a pool of studies, thereby improving

the understanding of practitioners on how different Industry 4.0 technologies relate to sustainable

warehousing.

Originality/value –To the best of the authors’knowledge, this is the first SLR at the intersection of Industry

4.0 technologies and sustainable warehousing. Our review expands the existing knowledge base, devises a

conceptual framework and suggests avenues for fruitful future research on this emerging area.

Keywords Sustainability, Industry 4.0 technologies, Warehousing, Logistics, Literature review

Paper type Literature review

1. Introduction

The term Industry 4.0, also known as the fourth industrial revolution, was first coined in

Germany in 2011, referring to fully automated and interconnected technologies of the 21st

century (Ali et al., 2021a,b;Raji et al., 2021). Some frequently acknowledged Industry 4.0

technologies include the internet of things (IoT), sensors, cloud computing, big data analytics,

robotics, cyber-physical systems, artificial intelligence, among others (Stank et al., 2019;Ali,

2019,Iftikhar et al., 2021a,b). These technologies have tremendous potential to support

economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainability (Kamble et al., 2020;Dong et al.,

2021). Given this, an increasing interest of scholars and practitioners in the use of Industry 4.0

technologies for sustainable business operations is witnessed.

Among other business functions, contemporary logistics, which is defined as the activities

of planning, realising and monitoring the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods,

services and information from the point of origin to the point of consumption meeting

customer needs, have been facing growing challenges in terms of sustainable practices. For

instance, within the past ten years, logistics activities have been criticised for one of the main

IJLM

33,2

644

Received 17 May 2021

Revised 14 December 2021

19 January 2022

Accepted 3 February 2022

The International Journal of

Logistics Management

Vol. 33 No. 2, 2022

pp. 644-662

© Emerald Publishing Limited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-05-2021-0277

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0957-4093.htm

causes of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution (Ries et al., 2017;Shee et al.,

2021). Therefore, rising pressure for sustainable operations continues to originate from public

media and stakeholders, enacting various new governmental regulations (Ali et al., 2021a,b;

Iftikhar et al., 2021a,b). Within logistics, warehouse –a planned space/building for the

efficient storage and handling of goods and materials –holds a significant place and hence

received great attention in recent times. Warehouse management includes the process

involved in running the day-to-day operations of a warehouse. Given the fact that warehouse

activities can considerably contribute to carbon footprint, today’s well-informed consumers

and other stakeholders increasingly demand socially and environmentally responsible

warehouse operations i.e. sustainable warehousing. Sustainable warehousing is an approach

of maximising the efficiency and effectiveness of warehouse operations in such a way that the

firm’s economic objectives can be reached, without negative impact on the surrounding

environment and society (Malinowska et al., 2018). Sustainable warehousing is indispensable

to reduce carbon footprints, enhance a firm’s brand image in public, improve international

benchmarking, ensure adherence to local government policies and regulation, and most

importantly, satisfy the increasing public pressure for socially and environmentally friendly

business operations (Mohan Kumar et al., 2017;Winkelhaus and Grosse, 2020). The success of

sustainable warehousing lies in the realisation of all three pillars of sustainability: economic,

environmental and social (Mostafa et al., 2019;Kumar et al., 2021a,b).

To effectively achieve three pillars of sustainability (economic, social and environmental)

in warehouse management, in recent times, Industry 4.0 technologies have emerged as game-

changing tools (Mostafa et al., 2019;Ali and Govindan, 2021). In terms of economic

sustainability, the fully automated Industry 4.0 technologies support economic growth

(without negative impact on society and environment) of warehousing by reducing energy,

water and material waste, production cost, paper consumption, errors and accidental

damages (Mostafa et al., 2019;Natanaree and Sriyos, 2014;Zhao et al., 2019). For instance, IoT

supported information sharing and visibility on order picking, loading, shipping reduces

chances of errors, damages and product rejections, thereby reducing the risks of wasting the

resources that are utilised in the manufacturing and distribution of a product (Ding et al.,

2020). Blockchain-enabled digital ledger increases transparency and traceability of

warehouse operations, reducing the likelihood of product tempering, consignment rejection

and economic losses. Likewise, modern robots can help move warehouse materials more

efficiently with fewer chances of damage and economic losses (Ali and Aboelmaged, 2021).

From a social perspective, Industry 4.0 technologies offer intelligence support systems and

reduced workload for workers (Ding et al., 2020). Working with sophisticated technologies

also enhances the workers’safety and well-being (Mostafa et al., 2019). Further, reduction in

warehousing costs with efficient technologies could ultimately lead to the provision of

relatively cheaper products to the community (Trab et al., 2017;Mostafa et al., 2019). In

addition, Industry 4.0 technologies could support environmental aspects (lean and green

operations) of warehouse practices. IoT systems, for instance, can control environmental

conditions within warehouses through automatic sensors, which results in a remarkable drop

in waste generation and accidental damages. Fully automated technologies are also

considered more resource-efficient (less consumption of energy and water) (Trab et al., 2017;

Nantee and Sureeyatanapas, 2021). Indeed, the penetration of Industry 4.0 technologies can

entirely transform the traditional business model into more sustainable warehousing.

Given the significance of Industry 4.0 technologies for sustainable warehousing, the

literature at the intersection of these two concepts has been emerging gradually. While prior

literature on logistics/warehouse management offers a few reviews; however, there is no

evidence of a comprehensive and up-to-date review at the intersection of Industry 4.0 and

sustainable warehousing. For example, Ding et al. (2020) offer insights on smart logistics

through bibliometric analysis. Their review demonstrates the impact of IoT supported smart

Industry 4.0,

sustainable

warehouse,

review

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