A knowledge-based experts’ system for evaluation of digital supply chain readiness

The digitalization of the supply chain (SC) enables companies to address customers’ new requirements, the challenges of managing the SC and the expectations, and efficiency improvement. Although digital supply chain (DSC) is a buzzword, very few organizations and decision-makers understand the challenges of transforming from a traditional supply chain to a DSC. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to develop and implement an integrated knowledge-based system (KBS) and evaluate the overall DSC readiness value (score) of an organization. DSC readiness factors are identified from an extensive literature review and validated by experts from academia and industry. The proposed KBS is based on Fuzzy-AHP​ that establishes a link between DSC readiness factors and their impact on performance and evaluates overall DSC readiness value (score). The proposed KBS has been validated in an Indian manufacturing company, and results show that the overall DSC readiness value (score) of the case company is 0.267. This paper will help organizations evaluate their current position in transforming from traditional supply chain to DSC and make a plan to achieve digitalization completely in their SC operations. Managers, practitioners, and decision-makers who are involved in digitalization can use our study’s findings as a starting point for aiding the transformation.