Perspectives on the future of manufacturing within the Industry 4.0 era

Abstract

The technological choices facing the manufacturing industry are vast and complex as the industry contemplates the increasing levels of digitization and automation in readiness for the modern competitive age. These changes broadly categorized as Industry 4.0, offer significant transformation challenges and opportunities, impacting a multitude of operational aspects of manufacturing organizations. As manufacturers seek to deliver increased levels of productivity and adaptation by innovating many aspects of their business and operational processes, significant challenges and barriers remain. The roadmap towards Industry 4.0 is complex and multifaceted, as manufacturers seek to transition towards new and emerging technologies, whilst retaining operational effectiveness and a sustainability focus. This study approaches many of these significant themes by presenting a critical evaluation of the core topics impacting the next generation of manufacturers, challenges and key barriers to implementation. These factors are further evaluated via the presentation of a new Industry 4.0 framework and alignment of I4.0 themes with the UN Sustainability Goals.

Keywords:

• Industry 4.0
• big data
• internet of things (IoT)
• artificial intelligence (AI)
• sustainability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laurie Hughes

Laurie Hughes is a lecturer at the School of Management, Swansea University, UK. He has an academic and practitioner background having worked for Information Systems (IS) consultancy based organizations managing technology projects for government and private sectors. He has a PhD in Information Systems. His research interests include operational impacts of Industry 4.0, supply chain management, big data analytics and technology adoption. His work has been published in leading academic journals including Production Planning & Control, Annals of Operations Research and International Journal of Information Management.

Yogesh K. Dwivedi

Yogesh K. Dwivedi is a Professor of Digital and Social Media, Director of the Emerging Markets Research Centre (EMaRC), and Director of Research in the School of Management at Swansea University, Wales, UK. His research interests are in the area of Information Systems (IS) including the adoption and diffusion of emerging ICTs and digital and social media marketing particularly in the context of emerging markets. He has published more than 250 articles in a range of leading academic journals and conferences. He has co-edited/co-authored more than 20 books on technology adoption, e-government, IS theory, eWOM and social media and had them published by international publishers such as, Chandos Publishing (an imprint of Elsevier), Springer, Chapman and Hall/CRC Press, Routledge, and Emerald. He acted as co-editor of fifteen journal special issues; organized tracks, mini-tracks and panels in leading conferences; and served as programme co-chair of 2013 IFIP WG 8.6 Conference on Grand Successes and Failures in IT: Public and Private Sectors and Conference Chair of IFIP WG 6.11 I3E2016 Conference on Social Media: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. He is an Associate Editor of European Journal of Marketing and Government Information Quarterly and Senior Editor of Journal of Electronic Commerce Research. More information about him can be obtained from http://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/som/academic-staff/y.k.dwivedi/

Nripendra P. Rana

Nripendra P. Rana is a Professor in Digital Marketing and the Head of International Business, Marketing and Branding at the School of Management at the University of Bradford, UK. His current research interests focus on the adoption of emerging and disruptive technologies, digital and social media marketing, Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities, Open Data and the use of ICT for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. His work has been published in leading academic journals such as European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Information Systems Frontiers, Government Information Quarterly, Computers in Human Behavior, Annals of Operations Research, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, International Journal of Production Research, International Journal of Production Economics, Information Technology & People, Public Management Review, Production Planning & Control, International Journal of Information Management, etc. He is the Editor-in-Chief for International Journal of Electronic Government Research and an Associate Editor of International Journal of Information Management.

Michael D. Williams

Michael D. Williams is a full Professor, Deputy Dean, and Director of the i-Lab Research Centre in the School of Management at Swansea University in the UK. He holds a BSc from the CNAA, an MEd from Cambridge University, and a PhD from the University of Sheffield. Prior to entering academia, he spent 12 years developing and implementing digital systems in both public and private sectors in a variety of domains including finance, telecommunications, manufacturing, and local government, and since entering academia, has acted as a consultant for both public and private organizations, and as a regional government advisor in the UK and the European Union. He is the author of numerous fully refereed and invited papers, has editorial board membership of a number of academic journals, and has obtained external research funding from sources including the European Union, the UK NHS, the Nuffield Foundation, and the Welsh Assembly Government.

Vishnupriya Raghavan

Vishnupriya Raghavan is the Head – Solutions and Product Management, Enterprise IT Business at StackRoute. Stackroute is an initiative of NIIT Limited. In her role, Vishnupriya drives the expansion of Stackroute solutions and products. Vishnupriya is a corporate education and training professional with a distinguished career of over 20 years in providing competency development solutions to businesses, training solutions to institutions and career enriching interventions for individual learners. She brings rich experience in driving B2B and B2C initiatives and has developed and implemented successful strategic partnerships with organizations and institutions. She has worked in the roles of Business analyst, Product owner as well as a hands-on IT specialist. She holds a Ph.D. in Information Systems & Operations. She also holds Masters Degrees in Information Systems and Mathematics. Her research interests lie in the areas of E-Business, User Experience and Emerging technologies. Her papers have been published in top journals including International Journal of Information Management and Information Systems Frontiers.