Digital twins driven supply chain visibility within logistics: A new paradigm for future logistics

Abstract

The supply chains shaping their distribution networks become more diverse as companies respond to global markets’ stringent criteria. This is also counterproductive to the visibility of the supply chain within the company and can adversely affect the organization’s core business. This paper attempts to evaluate how organizations can benefit from introducing Digital Twins to enhance their logistics supply network visibility. Additionally, deployment issues and technologies supporting Digital Twins were reviewed. This study used ATLAS.ti 9 software tools to save, classify, and evaluate the data for this analysis to systematically review the literature. We reviewed, compiled, and sorted papers from 227 publications for this article and then recognized 104 as critical to the work scope; this analysis’ quest date was set from 2002 to 2021. This article represents the first attempt at dealing with the issue of supply chain visibility through the Digital Twins in the logistics field. The research outcomes found that Digital Twins would help companies develop predictive metrics, diagnostics, projections, and physical asset descriptions for their logistics. This study also suggested some steps to overcome the challenges in implementing a Digital Twins in the logistics industry. For researchers, this review offers the possibility to unify and expand existing solutions and to identify links and interfaces that are still needed. As for managerial implications, this study can be used to identify future strategies and technologies to fulfil certain logistics tasks and develop new technological solutions for current and future demands.