INDUSTRY 4.0 FROM LOGISTICS FIRMS’ PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

In 18th century the first industrial revolution started with water- and steam-powered mechanical manufacturing. Following this era, comes industry 2.0 with the use of electricity and mass production. In 1970’s wide spread computerization and automation started the industry 3.0 era. Currently we are talking about a new are, industry 4.0, which enables communication between humans and also things, machines, though Cyber-Physical-Systems (CPS).The concept industry 4.0 although have been brought up in Germany, with the promises of the concept and todays increasing demand in cost effectiveness, flexibility, sustainability draw considerable interest globally. Industry 4.0 era will lead to breakthrough chances in business world. As the technologies of this era enables ubiquitous presence and real time information about each single piece of a process it has been used in many firms in developed countries for some time. With the current and potential benefits of industry 4.0 , especially logistics sector cannot ignore the applications of this era. In this study the perspective of logistics firms in Turkey to the concept industry 4.0 is evaluated. 7 different logistics firms operating in Istanbul Turkey ranging from SMEs to international firms were contacted and their point of view about this new era and their applications were evaluated. A SWOT analysis is conducted according to the firms’ evaluations.

Keywords

• industry 4.0
• internet of things