Barriers to the adoption of industry 4.0 technologies in the manufacturing sector: An inter-country comparative perspective

This paper examines barriers to the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies in the manufacturing sector in the context of both developed and developing economies. A comprehensive literature review, followed by discussions with industry experts, identifies 15 barriers, which are analyzed by means of a Grey Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach. The ‘lack of a digital strategy alongside resource scarcity’ emerges as the most prominent barrier in both developed and developing economies. The influencing barriers identified suggest that improvements in standards and government regulation could facilitate the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies in developing country case, whereas technological infrastructure is needed to promote the adoption of these technologies in developed country case. This study is one of the first to examine the implementation of Industry 4.0 in both developing and developed economies. This article highlights the difficulties in the diffusion of technological innovation resulting from a lack of coordinated national policies on Industry 4.0 in developing countries, which may prevent firms from fully experiencing the Industry 4.0 revolution. The results of this study may help decision makers and practitioners to address the barriers highlighted, paving the way for successful implementation of Industry 4.0 across the manufacturing sector

Issues and analysis of critical success factors for the sustainable initiatives in the supply chain during COVID- 19 pandemic outbreak in India: A case study

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has severely affected the supply chain all over. A major challenge for the supply chain (SC) is to address this disruption risk and bring sustainability to SC. The objective of this paper is to identify the stakeholders' requirements and critical success factors (CSFs) for the sustainability initiative in SC during this pandemic situation. Three potential stakeholders' requirements and a total of 16 critical success factors have been identified by taking inputs from experts and decision-makers. Further, these critical factors are analyzed and ranked based on a hybrid quality function deployment (QFD)-best-worst methodology (BWM). The QFD method has been used to identify the stakeholder’ requirements. And, the BWM has been adopted to prioritize the CSFs. The scientific value of the study is the contribution of the framework model for the sustainable initiatives in the SC during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, identification of stakeholders’ requirements and CSFs, and prioritizes these CSFs. The top three most critical success factors are found to be social distancing, emergency logistics systems, and emergency backup facilities. The proposed framework provides a roadmap to operation and supply chain managers to come up with good solutions for sustainability initiatives in the supply chain during and after the pandemic outbreak

An assessment of barriers to integrate lean six sigma and industry 4.0 in manufacturing environment : case based approach

The integration of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) with Industry 4.0 (I4.0) has numerous advantages for the organization. LSS and I4.0 integration in manufacturing environments face some challenges, including data integration, a lack of understanding of the strategic implications of integrating LSS and I4.0, security and data privacy issues, return on investment, and a shortage of consultants and trainers. This paper aims to analyse the barriers and their interrelationship that could hinder the manufacturing organisation from embracing LSS with I4.0. Fifteen potential barriers were identified from the literature review and by taking the opinion of experts and decision-makers. The grey decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method was applied to find the influence of each barrier on other barriers. The cause–effect relationship between the barriers was identified and later validated by experts. Using a single case study methodology, this study prioritises the identified barriers that hinder the automotive component manufacturing industry from integrating LSS with I4.0. The top three barriers were ‘lack of long-term vision’, ‘timely and accurate data availability’, and ‘lack of automation’. This paper will help the managers to better understand which barriers could affect the integration of LSS with I4.0