Industry’s 4.0 transformation process: how to start, where to aim, what to be aware of

Industry 4.0 has fused digitalisation with traditional industrial processes bridging the physical and virtual worlds and opening unimagined possibilities for 21st century business growth. Research is still evolving towards the development of frameworks linking Industry’s 4.0 enabling technologies to specific goals and to their impact on the manufacturers’ businesses. A systematic review of all peer-reviewed managerial research is performed to extract Industry’s 4.0 enabling technologies, barriers and goals. A framework linking technologies, barriers, and goals is then developed together with a web application based on its contents. The use of the framework is demonstrated through its application to two specific empirical case studies. The review shows that there are 9 classes of Industry’s 4.0 enabling technologies, whose different arrangements lead to the achievement of up to 15 business goals that can be thwarted by 21 barriers. The pursuit of these goals leads to three different destinations, i.e. three diverse digital transformations of the manufacturing firms. This paper provides a holistic framework that analyses the relationships among Industry’s 4.0 enabling technologies, barriers and goals. It appeals to managers who can use its contents along with the web application to derive recommendations and suggestions tailored to their Industry’s 4.0 journeys.

工业4.0（Industry 4.0）已将数字化与传统工业流程深度融合，打通实体与虚拟世界的边界，为21世纪的商业增长开辟了前所未有的全新可能。当前相关研究仍在持续演进，致力于构建将工业4.0使能技术（enabling technologies）与特定目标及其对制造企业业务的影响相联结的理论框架。本研究对所有同行评议的管理类学术研究开展系统性综述，以提取工业4.0的使能技术、阻碍因素与核心目标。随后，基于综述所得内容，研究团队构建了一套联结技术、阻碍因素与目标的理论框架，并开发了一款基于该框架的Web应用程序。通过将该框架应用于两个具体的实证案例研究，验证了其实际应用价值与效果。综述结果显示，工业4.0的使能技术共分为9大类，其不同的组合配置可助力企业实现多达15项业务目标，而这些目标的达成可能受到21种阻碍因素的制约。对这些目标的追求会导向三种不同的发展路径，即制造企业的三类差异化数字化转型形态。本文提出了一套整体性的理论框架，用于分析工业4.0使能技术、阻碍因素与业务目标之间的关联关系。该框架可供制造企业管理者使用，结合配套的Web应用程序，可针对其自身的工业4.0建设历程定制个性化的建议与行动方案。