Evaluation of Industry 4.0 Adoption Obstacles Through the Use of SMEs

Akash Tomar; P.N. Ahirwar

doi:10.37591/joprm.v13i3.7719

Abstract

Industry 4.0 offers significant technology advancements, but businesses must overcome several obstacles before implementing it. Although a lot of work has gone into identifying the hurdles that most businesses face, the literature currently in publication has not taken the time to examine how these barriers relate to one another or what that means for practitioners. Within the framework of Portugal's manufacturing sector, we employ the interpretative structural modelling (ISM) technique to pinpoint these obstacles and their interrelationships, together with the matrix impact of cross multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) study to pinpoint the underlying hurdles. The Technology-Organization-Environment framework is used to classify these obstacles. We come to the conclusion that the absence of readily available solutions and standardization-related obstacles are regarded as root impediments. Our findings deviate from those of other studies, which attribute the strongest driving power and lowest reliance power to obstacles relating to legal and contractual uncertainties. Additionally, we find that, in contrast to previous research on the subject, organisational impediments have the lowest driving strength and the highest reliance. We provide recommendations for managers and policymakers in three areas: Standardization Dissemination, Infrastructure Development, and Digital Strategy. Overcoming these challenges is very crucial for Indian SMEs, in moving towards the I4.0. Businesses improve their future plans by considering these challenges and devising a strategy to overcome it. Also, the dependability of different barriers on each other, which is quantified using MICMAC analysis, is a step forward in understanding these barriers better.

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