Effects of Industry 4.0 Technologies Adoption on Supply Chain Resilience of Food Product Manufacturing Firms in Ghana During The Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The complexity of supply chains is a dynamic puzzle amidst the ever-changing risks of disruptions that create uncertainties in forecasting and decision-making, thus posing immense challenges to supply chain professionals across several industries globally. This study aims to explore the types of industry 4.0 technologies adopted by firms in the food product manufacturing industry in Ghana and their supply chain resilience during the COVID-19 era. Primary data was collected from 195 top supply chain managers in 20 category 1 food product manufacturing firms in Ghana and analyzed using descriptive statistics measures, relative importance index analysis, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis. It was found that Big Data Analytics, Cloud Computing, and Industrial iInternet of Things are the top three adopted industry 4.0 technologies in Ghana’s food product manufacturing industry. It was also found that cyber attacks and security threats, export restriction affecting price and sales, reduced consumer demand, and limited access to food products were the key disruptions experienced in the food product manufacturing industry of Ghana. Furthermore, the study found that the adoption and implementation of IIoT, Cyber Security, Autonomous Robots Augmented Reality and Additive Manufacturing technologies had significant effect on the Supply Chain Resilience of food product manufacturing firms in Ghana during the early periods of COVID-19 pandemic. Future researchers can consider conducting a pre-test post-test analysis to ascertain the supply chain resilience of the food product manufacturing industry before and after COVID as the current study considered resilience during COVID. Moreover, future studies can analyze the effect of industry 4.0 technology adoption and implementation on each aspect of supply chain resilience: survival, recovery, and rebuilding.