Title: Contract design and implementation in the era of Industry 4.0: a systematic analysis

Authors: Cheng Wang; Mengna Hu; Zhuowei Zheng; Longyan Wei; Xun Xu

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China; Taizhou Key Laboratory of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Taizhou Research Institute, Zhejiang University of Technology, Taizhou, Zhejiang, China ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China ' Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract: Smart manufacturing under the background of Industry 4.0 requires organisations to carry out digital transformation from three dimensions: vertical integration, horizontal integration and end-to-end integration. Contract or mechanism design is needed when integration happens among different ownerships. To explore the contracts in smart manufacturing, with the help of bibliometrics, 5,087 related literature were retrieved based on the Web of Science, covering the period from 2000 to 2024. Bibliometric results are presented from the perspectives of global contribution, leading countries/regions, related research areas, institutions, journals, authors, the most cited publications and keywords. Hot topics and trends are excavated from highly cited papers and hot papers. Based on the bibliometric results, we confirm that blockchain and smart contracts are key to the realisation of contracts in smart manufacturing. Finally, this paper provides a systematic analysis of contract design and implementation driven by blockchain and smart contracts in horizontal and end-to-end integration. [Submitted 15 January 2023; Accepted 6 November 2024]

Keywords: Industry 4.0; contract design; contract implementation; smart manufacturing; vertical integration; horizontal integration; end-to-end integration; blockchain; smart contracts; bibliometrics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMR.2024.149059

International Journal of Manufacturing Research, 2024 Vol.19 No.4, pp.359 - 396

Accepted: 06 Nov 2024
Published online: 13 Oct 2025 *

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