Implementation of big data analytics and Manufacturing Execution Systems: an empirical analysis in German-speaking countries

Abstract

Many firms have started Industry 4.0 (I4.0) initiatives in recent years, without having a sound understanding of the effects generated by the technologies introduction. This research provides indications of what to expect from the implementation of two key technologies for I4.0: big data analytics and manufacturing execution systems. The study explores the relationships between these technologies’ implementation and a set of performance effects. Additionally, it analyses the influence of the organisational structure. A set of hypotheses derived from literature builds the basis for the quantitative analysis of an industry survey with 116 participants from German-speaking countries. The results show that these technologies have distinct, partially unexpected, performance effects. Furthermore, this research provides evidence that the organisational structure of technology implementation plays no significant role in the attainment of higher technology implementation levels.

Keywords:

• Industry 4.0
• organisational structure
• technology implementation
• firm performance
• internal enablers

Disclosure statement

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

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the invaluable support provided by a consortium of ten manufacturing companies from the German-speaking area. They sponsored the study and helped us in shaping the survey questionnaire through multiple workshops and individual calls.

Notes

1 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/nace-rev2. Accessed 15 June 2019.

2 https://www.bvdinfo.com/en-gb/our-products/data/international/orbis. Accessed 15 June 2019.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael Wiech

Michael Wiech is a Research Associate at the Institute of Technology Management at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. He holds an MSc in Industrial Engineering from the Technical University of Darmstadt. As a project leader, he gained practical experience in operations and global manufacturing. His research, which focuses mainly on coordination in international manufacturing networks, has been published in Procedia Manufacturing and has been presented at several international conferences.

Albachiara Boffelli

Albachiara Boffelli is a PhD Candidate in a joint program between the Department of Management, Information and Production Engineering of the University of Bergamo (Italy) and the Department of Economics and Management of the University of Pavia (Italy). She has been a visiting researcher at the Department of Industrial Management and Logistics of Lund University (Sweden). She holds an MSc in Management Engineering from the University of Bergamo. Her research focuses on the topic of manufacturing relocation, with a focus on the reshoring phenomenon. She is also interested in topics related to sustainability and the impact of new technologies. Her research has been presented at national and international conferences (e.g. EurOMA, Academy of Management, EDSI) and published in national and international journals.

Christian Elbe

Christian Elbe is a Research Associate at the Institute of Technology Management at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. He holds an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) and an MBA from the Collège des Ingénieurs in Paris, France. His research focuses on international manufacturing networks and the impact of digital technologies on their strategy, configuration and coordination. He is particularly interested in examining the use of manufacturing execution systems on a network level. He has presented a peer-reviewed paper at the EurOMA 2019 conference and published his research in magazines such as Die Volkswirtschaft and Zeitschrift fuer wirtschaftlichen Fabrikbetrieb (ZWF).

Paolo Carminati

Paolo Carminati is a PhD student at the Department of Management, Information and Production Engineering at the University of Bergamo (Italy) in a joint PhD program developed together with the University of Naples Federico II (Italy). He holds an MSc in Management Engineering from the University of Bergamo. His research focuses mainly on international manufacturing networks, with a particular focus on the sub-network perspective. His previous research has focused on supply chain management in the context of private equity. He has presented his research at national and international conferences.

Thomas Friedli

Thomas Friedli is an Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer of Management with a special focus on Production Management at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. As a director at the university’s Institute of Technology Management, he leads the division of Production Management. He holds a post-doctoral (habilitation) and doctoral degree in Business Administration from the same university. His main research focus is the management of manufacturing enterprises. His area of expertise is in operational excellence in the pharmaceutical industry, collaboration management, management of industrial services and management of global production. Thomas Friedli is an associate member of the International Academy for Quality (IAQ), a member of the advisory council of the Swiss Association for Quality and Management Systems (SAQ), and works with the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on quality metrics for pharmaceutical production plants. He teaches in several executive programs and was a visiting lecturer at the Business School of Bordeaux as well as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. His publications have appeared in various journals, including the International Journal of Production Economics, the Journal of Pharmaceutical Innovation and the International Journal of Operations & Production Management.

Matteo Kalchschmidt

Matteo Kalchschmidt received his PhD in Management Engineering from Politecnico di Milano and is currently Full Professor of Project and Innovation Management at the University of Bergamo, Italy. His research interests have been focused on operations management, with a specific emphasis on demand management and forecasting, global supply chain management and sustainable supply chain management. He is the author of more than 100 publications, among which are several in international journals. He is a member of several international associations, such as the European Association of Operations Management (EurOMA) and Production and Operations Management Society (POMS).