Conceptualizing Warehouse 4.0 Technologies in the Third-Party Logistics Industry: An Empirical Study

Erika Marie Strøm (), Julie Amanda Busch, Lars Hvam and Anders Haug ()
Additional contact information
Erika Marie Strøm: Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
Julie Amanda Busch: Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
Lars Hvam: Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
Anders Haug: Department of Business and Sustainability, University of Southern Denmark, 6000 Kolding, Denmark

Logistics, 2025, vol. 9, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: Background : Industry 4.0 (I4.0) has gained significant attention in recent years, with the term Logistics 4.0 (L4.0) emerging in the logistics industry. However, L4.0 remains vague and lacks a unified definition or classification of related technologies. Existing studies defining L4.0 are mainly conceptual and speculative, rather than grounded in empirical research. To address this gap, this study contributes to defining L4.0 through the sub-area of Warehouse 4.0 (W4.0), focusing on the challenges of adopting I4.0 technologies in warehouses. Methods : Through the I4.0 and L4.0 literature, an initial classification of W4.0 technologies in third-party logistics (3PL) was developed. This was refined using a case study of a global logistics service provider (LSP) in the 3PL industry, through semi-structured interviews with stakeholders. Results : The empirical findings identify new application areas for I4.0 technology in 3PL warehouses, including horizontal and vertical system integration, big data, and cybersecurity, technologies that can enhance 3PL competitiveness. Conclusions : This study offers a structured classification of W4.0 technologies and insights into the application areas of W4.0 in 3PLs. It contributes practical insights into which I4.0 technologies are relevant for the 3PL warehouse industry and their potential application areas.

Keywords: Warehouse 4.0; technology classification; logistics service provider (LSP); third-party logistics (3PL); case study; Logistics 4.0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L8 L80 L81 L86 L87 L9 L90 L91 L92 L93 L98 L99 M1 M10 M11 M16 M19 R4 R40 R41 R49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/9/3/125/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6290/9/3/125/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlogis:v:9:y:2025:i:3:p:125-:d:1740066

Access Statistics for this article

Logistics is currently edited by Ms. Mavis Li

More articles in Logistics from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().