A Lean Six Sigma, Industry 4.0 and Circular Economy-driven methodology for wine supply chain process improvement

Scientific literature recognizes that Lean Six Sigma (LSS), Industry 4.0 (I4.0) and Circular Economy (CE) offer significant opportunities to improve operational performance and decrease the environmental impact. Wine supply chains represent a strategic asset for the world economy and an ideal setting for the implementation of LSS, I4.0 and CE, but studies that integrate these three approaches to improve wine supply chain processes are lacking. The present research intends to demonstrate how wine supply chain processes (SCPs) can be improved by deploying the synergies between LSS, I4.0 and CE, so as to face the quality, efficiency and sustainability challenges modern competition poses to wine companies. To this aim, this study proposes an original methodology that adopts a step-by-step procedure inspired by the Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) cycle to systematically improve SCPs throughout the different phases of wine supply chains (i.e., vineyard, cellar, distribution). The methodology has been conceptualized starting from three sources - review of scientific literature, interviews with experts and personal contribution - and assembles in an original way some concepts and tools referring to different bodies of literature such as strategic decision making, data-driven process improvement, lean management, industry 4.0 and circular economy. The methodology has been tested in a real case to evaluate its utility for practice and relevance.