Event processing in supply chain management – The status quo and research outlook

• Published in: Computers in industry 2019-02, Vol.105, p.229-249
• Main Authors: Konovalenko, Iurii, Ludwig, André
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Decision support; Event processing; Literature review; Logistics; Research agenda; Supply chain event management
• ISSN: 0166-3615; 1872-6194
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compind.2018.12.009

•A review on event processing in supply chain management from 2005 to 2017 is given.•128 papers are analyzed from technological and supply chain management perspectives.•RFID is found to be a leading enabling technology along with the EPCIS standard.•Most solutions target road cargo, discrete monitoring, support at operational level.•Future work should focus on standards, granularity, cooperation, and data sources. Increasing supply chain complexity poses new challenges to managers. On the other hand, evolving information and communication technology offers ample opportunity for more reliable supply chain management practices. Event processing has established itself in many applications in logistics. Although the topic has enjoyed increasing popularity, there is no study taking stock of prior developments and guiding future research. Therefore, a systematic literature review on the topic of event processing in supply chain management from 2005 until the present is undertaken. Extant literature is synthesized and analyzed from technological and supply chain management perspectives to inform scholars and practitioners of existing field developments. Additionally, to guide future scholarly endeavors, a research agenda is derived from promising topics raised in papers and unfulfilled practical requirements. We find that current solutions primarily focus on a limited number of supply chain core processes and a restricted number of supply chain actors. The majority of publications focused on time-temperature sensitive products. Additionally, the domination of road transportation can be observed, while other modes of transport are often ignored in solution implementations. Decision support in terms of object traceability within the supply chain is found in most articles. RFID, typically accompanied by the Electronic Product Code Information Services standard, is the dominant enabling technology. Future research should focus on the topics of standardization, granularity, data sources, and cooperation. Moreover, holistic event processing supported by big data and machine learning techniques could create interfaces with other legacy business intelligence applications. Another promising area includes the exploration of new technologies, i.e. IoT, to enable new smart solutions.