Industry 4.0 enabling technologies in manufacturing: implementation priorities and difficulties in an emerging country

ABSTRACT

Industry 4.0 is one of the most heterogeneous waves of global industrialisation and the impact of new technologies in the industry is not clear. The present research aims to explore the perception of professionals from the Brazilian manufacturing sector regarding the main enabling technologies of Industry 4.0, their priority and difficulty level of implementation. A survey was carried out and collected data were analysed using a Fuzzy-TOPSIS approach. The results were summarised into a final ranking and it was possible to understand the perception of professionals regarding Brazilian manufacturing. For them, companies for aforementioned sector need to prioritise investments in shop-floor digitalisation (common fact in developing countries) and focus on understanding cybersecurity requirements (which hinders the implementation process). Understanding of Industry 4.0 phenomena in emerging countries is essential to grasp its particularities at a global level, helping researchers, decision-makers and policymakers to leverage Industry 4.0 in the context of a globalised economy.

KEYWORDS:

• Industry 4.0
• manufacturing sector
• emerging countries

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) [grant number 307536/2018-1].

Notes on contributors

Pedro Guilherme Sanches Contieri

Pedro Guilherme Sanches Contieri is MSc student at University of Campinas. Experienced in Industry 4.0, Production Systems and Data Analytics. He holds BSc in Automation Engineer from University of Campinas.

Rosley Anholon

Rosley Anholon is Professor of the School of Mechanical Engineering (University of Campinas). Experienced in Production Systems, Quality Management, Sustainable Systems and Entrepreneurship. He holds B.Sc., M.Sc. and PhD at University of Campinas.

Luis Antonio De Santa-Eulalia

Luis Antonio de Santa-Eulalia is an Associate Professor in Operations Management at the École de gestion, Université de Sherbrooke. He holds a PhD, an MSc and a BSc in Industrial Engineering, respectively from Université Laval, University of São Paulo and Federal University of São Carlos. Luis is cofounder of the IntelliLab.org, a research group dedicated to the 4th Industrial Revolution. He has coauthored more than 140 articles published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at conferences with selective editorial policies. His current research interests are related to emergent technologies and novel business models and practices for innovative and sustainable operations management.