Speeding Up the Implementation of Industry 4.0 with Management Tools: Empirical Investigations in Manufacturing Organizations

Industry 4.0: critical investigations and synthesis of key findings

The concept of Industry 4.0 has been one of the most debated and trending topics over the last few years. Progressively, it has attracted the attention of academicians, practitioners, and policymakers worldwide. However, there needs to be more systematic review of research in the current literature that captures the current state of this new paradigm. This study aims to address this gap by conducting a comprehensive review of Industry 4.0 previous studies to identify its technological, organisational, and managerial enablers, as well as its implementation challenges and benefits. A systematic literature review was conducted, in which 244 peer-reviewed journal papers were analysed in the Scopus database until the end of May 2022. This study excluded conference papers, book chapters, and journal papers not written in English. The study indicated that industry 4.0 is still an immature topic, and applying this new paradigm is not a matter of technology only. Organisational and managerial aspects should be considered. Additionally, the transition towards Industry 4.0 is a complex task, many obstacles exist, and manufacturing companies should be aware of these challenges for successfully implementing this new paradigm. The obtained results in this study synthesise recent studies published on Industry 4.0 and provide a comprehensive picture of Industry 4.0 and potential research directions for future research. Also, this study offers significant guidelines for managers interested in implementing Industry 4.0.

The Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management Tool in the Textile Sector

This paper aims to develop a proposal for implementing the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) in a large Portuguese company that operates in the textile sector, intending to promote its subsequent implementation. Through a qualitative research approach, a case study was carried out, using interviews, which allowed clarification of the strategic guidelines of the company under study. It was found that the organization under analysis has defined the main pillars for building the BSC: the mission, values and vision. It was also found that this is an organization with an open culture, concerned with developing efforts to create and implement tools that allow clear and fluid communication of strategic objectives in all sectors that incorporate it. It was also possible to assess that the BSC is a tool known to all employees. Everyone recognized that it would be a useful tool for improving organizational performance to meet strategic objectives. However, some factors were also found that can hinder its implementation, such as the availability of time, the organizational culture and everyone’s commitment to the execution of this strategic management tool.

The evolution of quality: from inspection to quality 4.0

Purpose

Quality has undergone several transformations over the past decades. From the inspection to total quality management (TQM), some tools have been created to improve the performance of industrial processes and services, such as control charts and Pareto’s diagram. Now, the fourth industrial revolution (4th IR), Industry 4.0, has become part of the routine of organizations and people. The purpose of this paper is to verify how traditional quality concepts are being adapted within organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

As the term “Quality 4.0” is still recent, this research aimed to conduct a literature review on the topic by using the systematic literature review method called Bibliometrix. Through the combination of keywords, 116 papers were found. After eliminating the repeated papers, an analysis was made with the remaining 104 papers, presenting the sources of publication, period of publication, countries, among other characteristics. Finally, a more detailed analysis of the 10 most recent papers published in journals was performed.

Findings

The main results of this research are: publications on the topic have increased significantly from 2013, mainly in journals and conference papers; the most important elements connected with Quality 4.0 are Quality Management and Industry 4.0; there is not yet a universal definition for Quality 4.0; however, it seems that digital tools can be used to improve the performance of processes; one can expect a natural evolution from TQM to Quality 4.0, not replacing the traditional quality methods; activities inside organizations will be faster and smarter, due to the use of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), combined with traditional quality methods.

Originality/value

Identifying new approaches and gaps for quality research may improve the development of new concepts and tools.

Stories Told by Publications about the Relationship between Industry 4.0 and Lean: Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda

Industry 4.0 and its application in the business has been the focus of attention by the academy, for its ability to establish principles of flexibility and connectivity along the shop floor. Meantime, because of a lean wave in the 1990’s, most of the western industry adopted principles, techniques and tools of lean production, whose results were quickly captured, guaranteed its adoption worldwide. Thus, with a view to turning traditional manufacturing companies into smart companies, it is essential to preserve the existing system and find ways for the two concepts (Lean and I4.0) to come together. This study was conducted based on a systematic literature review, using the Scopus database. The PRISMA process was the method used to select the articles. Finally, to analyze and discuss the results, the bibliometric analysis of the articles and content analysis were adopted. The results point to a greater impact of I4.0 technologies on lean, since it was perceived that I4.0 technologies give to lean tools a more dynamic way of working, accelerating information sharing processes and improving production manager’s and operator’s decision making. In the perspective of lean’s contribution to I4.0; however, there is little practical and theoretical application, thus the actual contribution is still somewhat blurred.

What Drives the Usage of Management Tools Supporting Industry 4.0 in Organizations?

The main purpose of this study was to examine how personal and organizational drivers influence the utilization of management tools aimed at supporting organizational working in Industry 4.0 settings. We built our research upon the recognized importance of management tools for organizational working under Industry 4.0 settings and explored the key personal and organizational drivers of management tool usage. Calculations were performed based on the responses of 222 employees working in organizations across Europe. The results revealed that, among personal drivers, a higher level of education leads to significantly higher usage of six sigma, rapid prototyping, outsourcing, customer relationship management, knowledge management, core competencies, and strategic planning. More experienced employees use significantly more six sigma, total quality management, supply chain management, knowledge management, and core competences than their less experienced peers. The impact of organizational drivers is substantially weaker, where only industry shows significant influence, indicating that lean production, six sigma, and supply chain management are used more in manufacturing than in service organizations. Gender, one’s position in the organization, and the organization size do not play a substantial role in management tool usage. Managers should recognize the role of personal and organizational drivers of management tool usage in order to more quickly implement Industry 4.0 principles in organizations.

Controlling an Industrial Robot Using a Graphic Tablet in Offline and Online Mode

The article presents the possibility of using a graphics tablet to control an industrial robot. The paper presents elements of software development for offline and online control of a robot. The program for the graphic tablet and the operator interface was developed in C# language in Visual Studio environment, while the program controlling the industrial robot was developed in RAPID language in the RobotStudio environment. Thanks to the development of a digital twin of the real robotic workstation, tests were carried out on the correct functioning of the application in offline mode (without using the real robot). The obtained results were verified in online mode (on a real production station). The developed computer programmes have a modular structure, which makes it possible to easily adapt them to one’s needs. The application allows for changing the parameters of the robot and the parameters of the path drawing. Tests were carried out on the influence of the sampling frequency and the tool diameter on the quality of the reconstructed trajectory of the industrial robot. The results confirmed the correctness of the application. Thanks to the new method of robot programming, it is possible to quickly modify the path by the operator, without the knowledge of robot programming languages. Further research will focus on analyzing the influence of screen resolution and layout scale on the accuracy of trajectory generation.