Smart supply chain : challenges of information-driven management

Smart Supply Chain is the answer to challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0). It uses features, mechanisms and technologies essential to integrate the whole system, that is Smart Industry, in an end-to-end perspective, namely taking into account all links that cooperate as part of delivering values to customers. As part of a Smart Supply Chain, all its components, namely factories, people, machines, products and service design, manufacture and delivery systems cooperate in order to satisfy customers’ needs as effectively and quickly as possible. The basis for building new generation supply chains is the possibility to link data and information from different sources. The aim of this article is to present the concept of the Smart Supply Chain in the context of challenges related to the management of information flow. Apart from the discussion of the concept itself and the meaning of information in the Smart Supply Chain, main supporting technologies have been presented. To reach the objectives set in the research, a review of subject literature has been made and the latest research results undertaken by Sapio Research on behalf of Zetes Corporate, concerning the assessment and challenges related to end-to-end supply chain information requirements and current operational reality, have been used.