Industry 4.0: a review and analysis of contingency and performance effects
Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management
ISSN: 1741-038X
Article publication date: 12 May 2020
Issue publication date: 24 March 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the literature and offer a more generalizable empirical investigation on the performance impact of implementing Industry 4.0, and the way important contingency factors (plant size, multinational status, country context) affect implementation efforts.
Design/methodology/approach
Following a systematic literature review, the empirical research is based on a large-scale survey of 705 manufacturing plants from 22 countries. Structural equation modeling is employed to discover the relationships between the main constructs of interest, complemented with subgroup analyses to offer a more detailed understanding of the main effects.
Findings
We provide evidence that technologies enabling Industry 4.0 have a positive impact on operational performance, including cost, quality, delivery and flexibility performance. Results of the analyses further indicate that (1) larger firms invest more in implementing Industry 4.0 technologies, (2) manufacturing firms in less competitive countries, especially in the South-East Asian region invest significantly more effort than competitive countries, while (3) multinational companies have no advantage over local firms.
Research limitations/implications
The survey data employed in this study refers to the early years of companies embracing Industry 4.0 solutions, and thus does not contain the most recent advances in manufacturing technologies.
Originality/value
The paper represents one of the first studies in the literature to assess on a large-scale survey the performance impact of Industry 4.0 technologies, as well as the main contingency factors affecting the implementation of these technologies.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The two Romanian authors received support from the PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2016-0502 project funded by UEFISCDI Romania (Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding). The two Hungarian researchers were supported by the project “Aspects on the development of intelligent, sustainable and inclusive society: social, technological, innovation networks in employment and digital economy” (EFOP-3.6.2-16-2017-00007). The project has been supported by the EU, co-financed by the European Social Fund and the budget of Hungary.
Citation
Szász, L., Demeter, K., Rácz, B.-G. and Losonci, D. (2021), "Industry 4.0: a review and analysis of contingency and performance effects", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 667-694. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMTM-10-2019-0371
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited