The role of digital technologies in supporting the implementation of circular economy practices by industrial small and medium enterprises

The adoption of Industry 4.0's digital technologies can enable the implementation of circular economy practices. Nonetheless, current indications for industrial practitioners on how to exploit the broad set of technologies for circular transition appear unclear. This issue is even more challenging for small and medium enterprises, which are typically endowed with more limited resources than larger firms and are characterised by both a digital and circular divide. This present study contributes to the academic debate by offering an exploratory empirical analysis-based on semi-structured interviews-that involved 10 Italian industrial small and medium enterprises to deepen the knowledge of the supporting role played by digital technologies in implementing circular economy practices by small and medium enterprises, also considering the potential synergies among such technologies. Results are of interest also to industrial decision-makers, allowing them to exploit their firms' resources towards the adoption of those digital technologies that could be more effective to foster the circular transition

Industry 4.0 technologies for manufacturing sustainability: A systematic review and future research directions

Recent developments in manufacturing processes and automation have led to the new industrial revolution termed “Industry 4.0”. Industry 4.0 can be considered as a broad domain which includes: data management, manufacturing competitiveness, production processes and efficiency. The term Industry 4.0 includes a variety of key enabling technologies i.e., cyber physical systems, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, big data analytics and digital twins which can be considered as the major contributors to automated and digital manufacturing environments. Sustainability can be considered as the core of business strategy which is highlighted in the United Nations (UN) Sustainability 2030 agenda and includes smart manufacturing, energy efficient buildings and low-impact industrialization. Industry 4.0 technologies help to achieve sustainability in business practices. However, very limited studies reported about the extensive reviews on these two research areas. This study uses a systematic literature review approach to find out the current research progress and future research potential of Industry 4.0 technologies to achieve manufacturing sustainability. The role and impact of different Industry 4.0 technologies for manufacturing sustainability is discussed in detail. The findings of this study provide new research scopes and future research directions in different research areas of Industry 4.0 which will be valuable for industry and academia in order to achieve manufacturing sustainability with Industry 4.0 technologies

A cross‐sectorial review of industrial best practices and case histories on Industry 4.0 technologies

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) was introduced in 2011, and its advanced enablers strongly affect industrial practices. In the current literature, while several papers offer general reviews on the topic, contributions exploring the evidences coming from the implementation of I4.0 in multi-sector Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises are few and expected. To address this gap, a comprehensive review of the main I4.0 enabling technologies is conducted, focusing on implementation experiences in companies belonging to different sectors. Forty (40) real case studies are analyzed and compared. The results show that 63% of the identified applications involve large enterprises in the transport sector, that is, automotive, aeronautics, and railway, adopting a structured set of enabling technologies. SMEs engaged in I4.0 projects primarily belong to the mechanical engineering sector, and 37% of such projects deals with the preliminary feasibility analysis of introducing a single enabling technology. Conclusions and trends guide researchers and practitioners in understanding the implementation level of I4.0 technologies

An investigation upon Industry 4.0 implementation: the case of small and medium enterprises and Lean organizations

In recent years, industries have undergone several shifts in their operating and management systems. Alongside to the technological innovation, rapid market changes and high competitiveness; growing customer needs are driving industries to focus on producing highly customized products with even less time to market. In this context, Industry 4.0 is a manufacturing paradigm that promises to have a great impact not only on improving productivity but also on developing new products, services and business models. However, the literature review has shown that research on Industry 4.0 implementation is still characterized by some weaknesses and gaps (e.g., topics such as the implementation of Industry 4.0 in SMEs and its integration with Lean Management approach). Motivated by so, this thesis sought to answer four key questions: (RQ1) What are the challenges and opportunities for SMEs in the Industry 4.0 field? (RQ2) What are the resources and capabilities for Industry 4.0 implementation in SMEs? (RQ3) How can these resources and capabilities be acquired and/or developed and (RQ4) How to integrate Industry 4.0 and Lean Management? To deal with the first research question, a semi-systematic literature review in the Industry 4.0 field was conducted. The main goal is to explore the implementation of Industry 4.0 in SMEs in order to identify common challenges and opportunities for SMEs in the Industry 4.0 era. To face with the second and third research questions, a multiple case study research was conducted to pursue two main aims: (1) to identify the resources and capabilities required to implement Industry 4.0 in Portuguese SMEs. Furthermore, based on mainstream theories such as resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capability theory, it sought empirical evidence on how SMEs use resources and capabilities to gain sustainable competitive advantage; (2) to shed light on how those SMEs acquire and/or develop the Industry 4.0 resources and capabilities. Finally, this thesis employed a semi-systematic literature review methodology to deal with the fourth research question. As such, it explored the synergistic relationship between Industry 4.0 and Lean Management to identify the main trends in this field of research and, ultimately, the best practices. The analysis and discussion of the best practices revealed a set of potential relationships which provided a more clear understanding of the outcomes of an Industry 4.0-LM integration.Nos últimos anos, as indústrias têm passado por várias mudanças tanto nos seus sistemas operacionais, como de gestão. Juntamente com a inovação tecnológica e alta competitividade; as mudanças nas necessidades dos clientes levaram as indústrias a se concentrarem na produção de produtos altamente personalizados e com tempo de lançamento no mercado cade vez menores. Nesse contexto, a Indústria 4.0 é um paradigma de manufatura que promete ter um grande impacto não só na melhoria da produtividade, mas também no desenvolvimento de novos produtos, serviços e modelos de negócios. No entanto, a revisão da literatura mostrou que a investigação sobre a implementação da Indústria 4.0 ainda é caracterizada por algumas lacunas (por exemplo em tópicos como a implementação da Indústria 4.0 em pequenas e médias empresas (PMEs) e sua integração com a filosofia de gestão Lean Management). Diante disso, esta tese procura responder à quatro questões-chave: (RQ1) Quais são os desafios e oportunidades para as PMEs no campo da Indústria 4.0? (RQ2) Quais são os recursos e capacidades necessários para a implementação da Indústria 4.0 nas PMEs? (RQ3) Como esses recursos e capacidades podem ser adquiridos e/ou desenvolvidos e (RQ4) Como integrar os paradigmas de manufatura, Indústria 4.0 e Lean Management? Para responder à primeira questão de investigação, este trabalho empregou uma revisão semi-sistemática da literatura. O objetivo principal foi explorar a implementação da Indústria 4.0 nas PMEs, a fim de identificar quais são os desafios e oportunidades para as PMEs na era da Indústria 4.0. Para fazer face à segunda e terceira questões de investigação, foi realizado um estudo de caso em 5 PMEs localizadas em Portugal a fim de atingir os seguintes objetivos: (1) identificar os recursos e capacidades necessários para implementar a Indústria 4.0 nas PME portuguesas; (2) esclarecer como essas PMEs adquirem e/ou desenvolvem esses recursos e capacidades. Além disso, com base nas teorias resourcebased view (RBV) e dynamic capabilities, buscar evidências empíricas sobre como as PMEs usam recursos e capacidades para obter vantagem competitiva sustentável. Finalmente, para lidar com a quarta questão de investigação, este estudo explorou a relação sinérgica entre a Indústria 4.0 e a filosofia de gestão Lean Management (LM) para identificar as principais tendências neste campo de investigação e promover as melhores práticas. A análise e discussão das melhores práticas revelaram um conjunto de potenciais relações, o que contribuiu para um entendimento mais claro sobre a integração da Indústria 4.0 com LM

Smart Systems and Collaborative Innovation Networks for Productivity Improvement in SMEs

The adoption of Smart Manufacturing Systems in manufacturing companies is often seen as a strategy towards achieving improvements in productivity. However, there is little evidence to indicate that UK manufacturing SMEs are prepared for the implementation of such systems. Through the employment of a triangulation research approach involving the detailed examination of 36 UK manufacturing SMEs from three manufacturing sectors, this study investigates the level of awareness and understanding within SMEs of Smart Manufacturing Systems. The development of a profiling tool is shown and is subsequently used to audit company awareness and understanding of the key technologies, collaborative networks and systems of SMS. Further information obtained from semi-structured interviews and observations of manufacturing operations provide further contextual information. The findings indicate that whilst the priority technologies and systems differ between manufacturing sectors, the key issues around the need for developing appropriate collaborative networks and knowledge management systems are common to all sectors

The digitalization of supply chain: A review

The emergence of new digital technologies as part of Industry 4.0 has enabled the supply chain to be managed more efficiently. We talk about digitalization of the supply chain and this trend refers to the evolution towards a smarter model that involves digital technologies such as Blockchain, IoT, Machine Learning, etc. These technologies actually increase and enhance the ability to optimize planning, sourcing and procurement strategies. Since this topic is of relevant interest for the scientific community, this paper aims to investigate the main discussion themes related to supply chain digitalization using a keyword-based organizing framework to identify, classify and investigate relevant intellectual contributions in this field. Results showed which are the main issues regarding supply chain digitalization as well as promising future research avenues

Industry 4.0 and sustainability: Towards conceptualization and theory

Both Industry 4.0 and sustainability have gained momentum in the academic, managerial and policy debate. Despite the relevance of the topics, the relation between Industry 4.0 and sustainability \u2013 revealed by many authors \u2013 is still unclear; literature is fragmented. This paper seeks to overcome this limit by developing a systematic literature review of 117 peer-reviewed journal articles. After descriptive and content analyses, the work presents a conceptualization and theoretical framework. The paper contributes to both theory and practice by advancing current understanding of Industry 4.0 and sustainability, especially the impact of Industry 4.0 technologies on sustainability practices and performance