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The steel sector is crucial for the national economy of Poland and the global economy. In response to the challenges of the global steel market and the need to increase the sector’s competitiveness, a number of actions have been taken to increase the energy efficiency of steel production. Based on the synthesis of the literature and our own research, we describe the issues related to energy efficiency and the Industry 4.0 concept. The main aim of this paper is to identify energy efficiency trends in enterprises, especially those that focus on increasing the energy efficiency of production processes, and to make recommendations for investment policy for the Polish steel sector in the era of Industry 4.0. To achieve our goals and answer the research question, we used data from 2000–2019 for the Polish steel industry. The calculations and models in this paper were made by using Gretl software. Using direct research, an econometric model was built that verified the hypothesis regarding the relationship between investment in new technologies and the energy efficiency of steel production. Future investment policies should take the implementation of Industry 4.0 tools in the steel sector into account, which, according to the authors, will measurably improve energy efficiency.

There are more and more talks in the community of scientists and business practitioners about new challenges for industry in connection with the fourth industrial revolution. Industry 4.0 is the result of the development of cyber-physical generation systems as part of the fourth industrial revolution. Industry 4.0 sets new areas of change in the sphere of production and management but also exerts an impact on various aspects of society’s life. It is a transformational challenge for enterprises of the present age. Industry 4.0 is present in economic studies at the macroeconomic level and business at the microeconomic level. Scientists discuss the essence of change, and specialized research centers and consulting companies carry out research on various aspects of this industrial revolution. The article presents the range of expectations and changes in society towards the development of the concept of Industry 4.0. The work was based on a literature study and direct research in the field of social change in the Industry 4.0 era. The aim of the article is to identify social expectations of development changes related to the implementation of the Industry 4.0 concept. The article devotes a lot of attention to customization because it is one of the keys of Industry 4.0, leading to a change of the paradigm from mass production to personalized production. This simple change will affect customers, producers, and employees. Based on the synthesis of literature and secondary research, authors identify opportunities and threats to the broadly understood society functioning in the Industry 4.0 environment. Social conditions were analyzed from the point of view of the consumer, producer, and employee. In the cited direct studies, the basic area of analysis was product personalization and pre-recognition of the opinions of potential consumers about customization in Industry 4.0. The limitation of the research area to the consumer segment resulted from the importance of product personalization in Industry 4.0 and its impact on producer behavior and effects for employees.

The main aim of the manuscript is the identification of key research problems in the field of sustainable development, in the era of implementing the Industry 4.0 concept. The manuscript presents results of the bibliometric analysis in the subject: “Sustainable Industry 4.0”. The bibliometric analysis was realized in three segments: Sustainability, Industry 4.0 and Sustainable Industry 4.0. In the analysis, the following databases were used: Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, Google Scholar. The main purpose of the analysis was to outline the dynamics of publications in the categories: citation, author, country, type document, science field, research area. The review of sources carried out in this way allowed us to identify key research areas and confirm the research thesis adopted in the manuscript. The research thesis: Sustainable Industry 4.0 allows the integration of the Industry 4.0 concept with sustainable development goals. The article is dedicated especially to scientists looking for still unsolved research problems in the implementation of sustainable Industry 4.0. Furthermore, the manuscript could be an inspiration for scientists, stakeholders, practitioners and governments to complete today’s knowledge about the problems of sustainability in Industry 4.0.

In recent years, there has been dynamic changes in the industrial environment as a result of further innovations called Industry 4.0 (I.4.0), especially in the field of digital technology and manufacturing. Despite numerous examples of the implementation of Industry 4.0 in enterprises, there is no general framework for the implementation of Industry 4.0 with a detailed schedule. Researching the ways of implementing Industry 4.0 is still a current and unexplored area of research. The main aim of the paper is to present the concept of the theoretical framework for Industry 4.0 implementation based on selected schedules of the Industry 4.0 implementation. The paper was based on information from literature review and analysis of pilot enterprise projects to Industry 4.0 (case study) that were conducted in selected enterprises. The paper presents the key components of the framework of Industry 4.0 and the basic stage of implementing the concept in the enterprises, paying attention to their sequence and time frames. The proposed approach is dedicated to researchers and practitioners who implement the concept of Industry 4.0 in enterprises.