The industrial management of SMEs in the era of Industry 4.0

Abstract

Industry 4.0 provides new paradigms for the industrial management of SMEs. Supported by a growing number of new technologies, this concept appears more flexible and less expensive than traditional enterprise information systems such as ERP and MES. However, SMEs find themselves ill-equipped to face these new possibilities regarding their production planning and control functions. This paper presents a literature review of existing applied research covering different Industry 4.0 issues with regard to SMEs. Papers are classified according to a new framework which allows identification of the targeted performance objectives, the required managerial capacities and the selected group of technologies for each selected case. Our results show that SMEs do not exploit all the resources for implementing Industry 4.0 and often limit themselves to the adoption of Cloud Computing and the Internet of Things. Likewise, SMEs seem to have adopted Industry 4.0 concepts only for monitoring industrial processes and there is still absence of real applications in the field of production planning. Finally, our literature review shows that reported Industry 4.0 projects in SMEs remained cost-driven initiatives and there in still no evidence of real business model transformation at this time.

SMME Readiness for Smart Manufacturing (4IR) Adoption: A Systematic Review

“…There have been other systematic reviews [5,[13][14][15][16][17][18] to understand the factors inhibiting smart manufacturing adoption and implementation by SMMEs. Those reviews focused on different dimensions [5,[13][14][15][16] and contextual perspectives [17,18]. For example, Mittal et al [5,13,14] focused specifically on maturity models, while Hamdi [16] and Moeuf et al [15] focused on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and organisational dimensions respectively.…”

“…Those reviews focused on different dimensions [5,[13][14][15][16] and contextual perspectives [17,18]. For example, Mittal et al [5,13,14] focused specifically on maturity models, while Hamdi [16] and Moeuf et al [15] focused on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and organisational dimensions respectively. Nowotarski and Paslawski [17], and Sommer et al [18] focused on Germany and the construction sector.…”

Managing Knowledge Integration across BoundariesFredrickTell, ChristianBerggren, StefanoBrusoni, and AndrewVan de Ven (eds) Oxford University Press, 2017, 305 pp., £55. ISBN: 9780198785972

“…Furthermore, with the world now entering the Industry 4.0 era (Moeuf et al . ), dramatic changes in organisational structures may occur as firms become less hierarchical and have fewer boundaries with the support of the internet and supporting technologies. Consequently, new and unanticipated boundaries might appear.…”

Managing Knowledge Integration Across Boundaries

“…This book could contribute further by including further empirical studies from geographical locations in Asia, America, Africa or Australia that would provide the readership with more 'boundaries', such as cultural boundaries within or across firms. Furthermore, with the world now entering the Industry 4.0 era (Moeuf et al 2017), dramatic changes in organisational structures may occur as firms become less hierarchical and have fewer boundaries with the support of the internet and supporting technologies. Consequently, new and unanticipated boundaries might appear.…”