Abstract

The fourth industrial revolution known as Industry 4.0 is reshaping and evolving the way industries produce products and individuals live and work therefore, gaining massive attraction from academia, business and politics. The manufacturing industries are optimistic regarding the opportunities Industry 4.0 may offer such as, improved efficiency, productivity and customization. The present research contributes to the Industry 4.0 literature by identifying, modelling, analyzing and prioritizing the challenges in implementing Industry 4.0 in manufacturing industries. In doing so, the paper first introduces the interpretive structural modelling (ISM) to develop the hierarchical relationships among the challenges and analyzes their mutual interactions. Further, ‘Matrice d’Impacts Croises Multiplication Appliquee aun Classement’ (MICMAC) analysis is used to categorize the challenges into four categories namely, autonomous, driver, dependent and linkage based on their driving power and dependence power. Moreover, fuzzy-analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP) methodology is used to prioritize the challenges based on three criteria; driving power, dependence power and change management. The hierarchical model developed through ISM methodology shows that “lack of vision and leadership from top management (C12), lack of skills training program and education (C2) and uncertainty of return on investment (C9)” are the major challenges in implementing Industry 4.0 in manufacturing industries. The findings of F-AHP analysis suggests that “lack of vision and leadership from top management (C12), lack of skilled workforce (C3), lack of skills training program and education (C2) and uncertainty of return on investment (C9)” are some of the major challenges of implementing Industry 4.0. Finally, the obtained results show how challenges affect other so that to uncover the root cause triggering the other challenges. The industrial practitioners and managers can then take advantage of these analyzes to know which challenge acts as the main barrier in implementing Industry 4.0 and to be focused first in order to reach a solution.

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Authors (4)