Industry 4.0 Technologies in Sustainable Logistics: Possibilities for Application in Transport Companies

Main problem: Nowadays, market competition is becoming increasingly fierce due to diversified customer needs, strict environmental regulations and global competitors. One of the most important factors allowing companies not only to survive, but thrive in today's competitive market is logistics efficiency. This study examines Industry 4.0 technologies as opportunities to improve the economic efficiency, environmental performance and social impact of logistics sectors. However, this technological transformation poses a number of challenges, namely trade-offs between different sustainability metrics, unclear benefits, life-cycle environmental impacts, inequality issues and technology maturity. The research focuses on general sustainability and supply chain issues related to Industry 4.0. However, there is still no systematic analysis aimed at combining sustainable logistics with various Industry 4.0 technologies. Purpose: Conducting a systematic analysis to identify and justify the use of Industry 4.0 technologies for use by transport companies that help shape the sustainable practices of enterprises, but also create the image of a socially responsible company, as well as improve their overall sustainable performance in economic and environmental dimensions. Methods: A systematic literature review aimed to identify, evaluate, interpret and classify all relevant articles addressing one or more research questions and topics. Compared to a descriptive literature study, the results of which mainly focus on the descriptive results of a particular field of knowledge and may suffer from selection bias, a systematic literature review provides a comprehensive overview of the research landscape. Results and their significance: The analysis shows that transport companies need to focus their attention, also for future development, on the balance between various indicators of sustainability throughout the entire life cycle, human-centered technological transformation, system integration and digital twins, semi-autonomous transport solutions, intelligent reverse logistics and other effective company management tools.