Leveraging Industry 4.0 technologies for sustainablevalue chains: Raising awareness on digital transformationand responsible operations management

Practitioners, policy makers as well as scholars are increasingly focusing their atten-tion on the promotion of sustainable practices that reduce the businesses' impactson the environment. In many cases, they are well aware that manufacturers and theirsuppliers are resorting to lean management processes and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technol-ogies such as big data, internet of things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI), amongothers, to implement sustainable production models in their operational processes.This research utilizes an inductive approach to better understand how I4.0 technolo-gies could result in increased organizational performance in terms of resource effi-ciencies, quality assurance as well as in environmentally sustainable outcomes, in thecontext of the automotive industry. The findings shed light on the relationshipbetween I4.0 technologies, sustainable and lean practices of automakers of combus-tion engines, hybrid models and/or electric vehicles (EVs). In conclusion, this contri-bution puts forward an original conceptual framework that clearly explains howpractitioners can avail themselves of disruptive technologies to foster continuousimprovements in their value chain.