Implementing Industry 4.0 Technologies : Future Roles in Purchasing and Supply Management

Recent technological advancements associated with Industry 4.0 are driving a paradigm shift within economic and social spheres. In a business context, these changes are altering the roles, responsibilities and skill requirements of professionals in a wide variety of fields. A key area that is being impacted by new Industry 4.0 technologies is the buyer-supplier interface between two companies, and the role of purchasing and supply management (PSM) needs to adapt to these changes. This move towards Industry 4.0 in a PSM context requires an increased focus on the specialization of PSM practitioners and their ability to adopt such new technologies. To develop the field’s understanding of how best these changes can be implemented and harnessed, this paper uses an internet-based real-time Delphi study with 47 PSM experts to identify and define six new Industry 4.0 PSM roles and assess their expected probability of occurrence, impact on the industry, the desirability of occurrence, and level of adoption within the industry. Basing these future roles on maturing and emerging technologies within the PSM field, and adopting a human-centred evolutionary approach, this paper contributes to the wider Industry 4.0 human resource management literature and the extant PSM skills and capabilities literature