Areej Althabatah

Background: the advent of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) innovations has revolutionized supply chain management through technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) integrated into procurement processes. Methods: this study addresses a critical knowledge gap by conducting a comprehensive review of 111 papers sourced from the Scopus database. These papers are classified into seven sub-themes encompassing I4.0 or procurement 4.0 (P4.0), big data, IoT, additive manufacturing, blockchain, e-procurement, and AI. Results: the investigation reveals that I4.0 technologies, particularly e-procurement and blockchain, have garnered substantial attention. Such technologies offer diverse value propositions, encompassing streamlined supplier evaluation, lead time reduction, cost optimization, and enhanced data security. Conclusion: the paper underscores pivotal trends and insights for the evolution of Procurement 4.0, illuminating a path toward more efficient supply chain management.

Procurement is the process that manages business relationships of suppliers, including negotiations or services, and plays a key role for the success of many companies. In this work we discuss some of the important aspects around procurement (and towards Procurement 4.0), including the main drivers, challenges, remedies, and benefits. The main drivers are related to efficiency improvements, risk minimization and reducing human efforts in procurement process. The challenges include the adaption to Procurement 4.0, data security and lack of employee trainings. The mainly remedies concern technology and data management. The benefits of improved procurement are process optimization with digitization, skilled supplier selections, on time demand fulfillment, and on time invoicing management. Recommendations for industrial procurement are provided aiming for achieving improved operations.