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The study examines the remote integration process of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) into the production system and identifies key challenges and mitigating actions for a smoother introduction and integration process.

The study adopts a case study approach to a cyber-physical production system at an industrial technology center using a mobile robot as an AMT.

By applying the plug-and-produce concept, the study exemplifies an AMT's remote integration process into a cyber-physical production system in nine steps. Eleven key challenges and twelve mitigation actions for remote integration are described based on technology–organization–environment theory. Finally, a remote integration framework is proposed to facilitate AMT integration into production systems.

The study presents results purely from a practical perspective, which could reduce dilemmas in early decision-making related to smart production. The proposed framework can improve flexibility and decrease the time needed to configure new AMTs in existing production systems.

The area of remote integration for AMT has not been addressed in depth before. The consequences of lacking in-depth studies for remote integration imply that current implementation processes do not match the needs and the existing situation in the industry and often underestimate the complexity of considering both technological and organizational issues. The new integrated framework can already be deployed by industry professionals in their efforts to integrate new technologies with shorter time to volume and increased quality but also as a means for training employees in critical competencies required for remote integration.

Each individual needs to be vaccinated to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the shortest possible time. However, the vaccine distribution with an already strained supply chain in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) will not be effective enough to vaccinate all the population in stipulated time. The purpose of this paper is to show that there is a need to revolutionize the vaccine supply chain (VSC) by overcoming the challenges of sustainable vaccine distribution.

An integrated lean, agile and green (LAG) framework is proposed to overcome the challenges of the sustainable vaccine supply chain (SVSC). A hybrid best worst method (BWM)–Measurement of Alternatives and Ranking According to COmpromise Solution (MARCOS) methodology is designed to analyze the challenges and solutions.

The analysis shows that vaccine wastage is the most critical challenge for SVSC, and the coordination among stakeholders is the most significant solution followed by effective management support.

The result of the analysis can help the health care organizations (HCOs) to manage the VSC. The effective vaccination in stipulated time will help control the further spread of the virus, which will result in the normalcy of business and availability of livelihood for millions of people.

To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first study to explore sustainability in VSC by considering the environmental and social impact of vaccination. The LAG-based framework is also a new approach in VSC to find the solution for existing challenges.

Since Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is a new idea in Bangladesh, this study supports I4.0 adoption. Companies struggle to implement I4.0 and fully profit from the fourth industrial revolution’s digital transformation due to its novelty. Although barriers to I4.0 adoption are thoroughly studied, the literature has hardly examined the many aspects that are crucial for I4.0 adoption in Bangladesh’s Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry. So, the purpose of this study is to investigate the barriers of adopting I4.0 in relation to Bangladesh’s RMG industries to enhance the adoption of I4.0 by developing a framework. Ultimately, the goal of this research is to improve the adoption of I4.0 in Bangladesh.

Through a comprehensive analysis of the existing research, this paper aims to reveal the barriers that must be overcome for I4.0 to be adopted. For evaluating those barriers, a decision analysis framework based on the combination of Delphi technique and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method has been developed. The use of DEMATEL has led to a ranking model of those barriers and a map of how the barriers are connected to each other.

The findings reveal that “I4.0 training”, “Lack of Motivation” and “Resistance to Change” are the most significant barriers for adopting Industry 4.0 in RMG sector of Bangladesh based on their prominence scores.

These findings will help the people who make decisions in the RMG industry of Bangladesh, such as company owners, managers and the executive body, come up with a plan for putting I4.0 practices into place successfully. The decision-making framework developed in this research can be utilized by the RMG industry of Bangladesh and other similar industries in developing countries to figure out how important each barrier is for them and how to get rid of them in order of importance.

As far as the authors are aware, there has not been a comprehensive study of the barriers inhibiting the adoption of I4.0 within the scope of Bangladeshi RMG industry. This work is the first to uncover these barriers and analyze them using the combination of Delphi technique and DEMATEL.

The manufacturing industry is one of the most disrupted systems as a result of the global spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Manufacturing firms are looking for strategies and policies to deal with the situation while also meeting customer demands. This study aims to discuss and analyze the barriers that have impacted manufacturing systems during this period.

The barriers and performance measures were extracted from the extant literature and further discussed with academic and industry experts. Based on the response of experts, a list of ten barriers and five performance measures were selected for further analysis. The interpretive ranking process (IRP) is applied to analyze the inter-relationship among the barriers with respect to performance variables. The cross-interaction matrices and the dominance profile are created to prioritize the barriers. Based on dominance value, an IRP-based manufacturing barrier evaluation model is developed for validation.

The impact of the pandemic on the manufacturing industry is analyzed through the list of barriers and a structured ranking model is proposed. The research findings of the study indicate that “Financial constraints” is the most influential barrier to manufacturing due to the outbreak of Covid-19, followed by “Government imposed restrictions” and “Setbacks in logistics services.”

The ranking of barriers and developed interpretive ranking process model would be helpful for practitioners and policymakers to formulate strategies for manufacturing organizations to deal with the pandemic situation. The finding can be beneficial as it promotes similar studies in other sectors.

This study contributes to the manufacturing sector by developing a contextual relationship among the set of identified barriers against various performance measures. As per the author's knowledge, this is the first study that provides a relationship and ranking of manufacturing barriers due to the outbreak of Covid-19.

Background: The study focuses on the challenges encountered during the distribution of food and face-mask items during the first COVID-19 lock-down by various relief supply chain actors.

Methods: Data were collected from forty (40) relief actors through online (via Zoom and telephones) and face-to-face interviews, between January 2021 to March 2021. Data was coded based on per-determined themes after which it was further processed using Atlas ti. v7.57 to generate patterns.

Results: The study established challenges related to needs identification, procurement, warehousing, transportation, handling, beneficiary verification, and last-mile distribution. Additionally, the media and politics coupled with the emergence of new actors and governance issues were part of the challenges identified.

Conclusions: The identified challenges were internal and external to the relief supply chain; hence actors could have control over some while others were beyond their control. The findings could inform practitioners and policymakers on what challenges are likely to affect their operations, especially during a pandemic, and design appropriate coping mechanisms.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the roles of human resource development (HRD) in open universities. The study also intends to assess the current situation of HRD at Hanoi Open University (HOU) with an end view of proposing some suggested recommendations to enhance HRD to improve the training quality and effectiveness at HOU.

The study’s first two parts refer to HRD’s role in open universities. The third one summarizes the existing research literature on HRD used as theoretical base for the author to evaluate the current HRD at HOU in the fourth part. The fifth part involves the methodology to gather the data on HRD practices at HOU while the next two important parts deal with the study’s findings and recommendations for better HRD at HOU. The final part summaries the study’s main points. Referring methodology, the survey data were analyzed through frequency, percentage and weighted mean as statistical tools.

The study’s findings show that HRD practices at HOU are not as effective as expected in terms of human resource quality, human resource structure and human resource management. There is a shortage of full-time well-qualified employees, inadequate and imbalance working positions, and un-synchronous, fragmented personnel management.

The study’s values are not only useful for building policies on HRD but also for developing strategies to train and foster capable and adequate staff in open universities’ academic environment and in HOU as well.

Following the imperative for human-centric digital innovation brought by the paradigm of Industry 5.0, the article aims to integrate the dispersed and multi-disciplinary literature on individual risks for workers to define, explain and predict individual risks related to Industry 4.0 technologies.

The paper follows the question, “What is the current knowledge and evidence base concerning risks related to Industry 4.0 technologies, and how can this inform digital innovation management in the manufacturing sector through the lens of the Industry 5.0 paradigm?” and uses the method of systematic literature review to identify and discuss potential risks for individuals associated with digital innovation. N = 51 contributions met the inclusion criteria.

The literature review indicates dominant trends and significant gaps in understanding risks from a human-centric perspective. The paper identifies individual risks, their interplay with different technologies and their antecedents at the social, organizational and individual levels. Despite this, the paper shows how the literature concentrates in studying risks on only a limited number of categories and/or concepts. Moreover, there is a lack of consensus in the theoretical and conceptual frameworks. The paper concludes by illustrating an initial understanding of digital innovation via a human-centered perspective on psychological risks.

Findings yield practical implications. In investing in the adoption, generation or recombination of new digital technologies in organizations, the paper recommends managers ensure to prevent risks at the individual level. Accordingly, the study’s findings can be used as a common starting point for extending the repertoire of managerial practices and interventions and realizing human-centric innovation.

Following the paradigm of Industry 5.0, the paper offers a holistic view of risks that incorporates the central role of the worker as crucial to the success of digital innovation. This human-centric perspective serves to inform the managerial field about important factors in risk management that can result in more effective targeted interventions in risk mitigation approaches. Lastly, it can serve to reinterpret digital innovation management and propose future avenues of research on risk.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the structure and dynamics of academic articles relating to public procurement (PP) in the period 1984–2022 (up to May). The researchers also intend to analyse how this knowledge domain has grown since 1984.

A bibliometric analysis was carried out to examine the existing state of PP research. Based on 640 journal articles indexed in the Scopus database and written by 1,247 authors over nearly four decades, a bibliometric analysis was conducted to reveal the intellectual structure of academic works pertaining to PP.

Findings reveal that PP research from Scopus has significantly increased in the past decade. Major journals publishing PP research are International Journal of Procurement Management, Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management and Public Money and Management. Results also indicate that authors’ cooperation network is fragmented, showing limited collaboration among PP researchers. In addition, results suggest that the institutional collaboration network in PP research mirrors what is commonly referred to as the North–South divide, signifying insufficient research collaboration between developed and developing countries’ institutions. According to the co-occurrence keyword network and topic modelling, PP revolves around five main themes, including innovation, corruption, sustainable and green PP, PP contracts and small and medium enterprises. Based on these results, several directions for future research are suggested.

This paper provides an increased understanding of the entire PP field and the potential research directions.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first-ever application of bibliometric techniques and topic modelling to examine the development of PP research since 1984 based on scholarly publications extracted from the Scopus database.

This study aims to investigate the supply chain gaps during the COVID-19 pandemic in Tanzania amid the pandemic era.

This study adopted a mixed approach, using both structured questionnaires and individual interviews to gather raw data (quantitative and qualitative data). To assess quantitative data for statistical (descriptive and inferential) analysis, this study used a sample of 57 wholesale and retail pharmacies and 10 hospital pharmacies, which were randomly selected. The thematic analysis was applied to the gathered qualitative data to authenticate the quantitative findings and conclusions which were the outcome of the descriptive and inferential analysis (binary logistics regression) analysed by the SPSS.

The results revealed the presence of various supply chain gaps in terms of target gaps, time gaps and coverage gaps. This study highlighted the disruption on demand and uncertainty in business environment as ways that the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the gaps and revealed the negative effects of the supply chain gaps on the effectiveness of medical supplies in Tanzania.

The results revealed the presence of various supply chain gaps (in terms of target gaps, time gaps and coverage gaps), underlined the disruption in demand and uncertainty in the business environment as ways that the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the gaps and revealed the negative effects of the supply chain gaps on the effectiveness of medical supplies in Tanzania.

Data generated and used in this study is from participants from one country only (Tanzania), despite the supply chain gaps being common to many developing countries in general.

This study provides a novel framework in medical supply chain literature by identifying numerous disruptions in the medical supply chain which emerged during the COVID-19 emergence and serves as a basis for future studies on how to counter the gaps and rebuild a resilient and sustainable medical supply chain in developing countries.