Information Flow in the Context of the Green Concept, Industry 4.0, and Supply Chain Integration

Supply Chain Integration describes how employees in a specific company along a supply chain and its trading partners work together to achieve common business objectives via integrated business processes and information sharing. In this way, material and information flows are established. Due to the competitiveness between supply chains and the trend to be more efficient and sustainable, we distinguish several phases of supply chain integration, from the oral negotiation and repetition of the same activities to automation and reduction in the number of activities. Recently, much attention has been paid to the concept of Industry 4.0, which is based on computerisation and connectivity. Digitalisation is recognised as a springboard for visibility, transparency, predictive capacity and adaptability or, in other words, for Industry 4.0, which inherently requires technological development. Information systems, as an example of technology, are an enabler for increased sustainability and greener supply chains. Currently, companies are at different stages of technology development, and the establishment of external integration depends on the digital development of each element of the supply chain. The current situation in companies reveals different degrees of maturity, both from the aspect of supply chain integration and from the aspect of Industry 4.0. In this paper, we reveal possible overlapping areas between different maturity phases of supply chain integration and the Industry 4.0 concept, as well as how different combinations of maturity levels characterise information flow.