Industry 4.0 Roadmap: Implementation for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
The Industry 4.0 era has resulted in several opportunities and challenges for the manufacturing industry and for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME); technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality (VR) or Cloud Computing are changing business structures in profound ways. A l...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/23/8566 |
| _version_ | 1797546226881658880 |
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| author | Alberto Cotrino Miguel A. Sebastián Cristina González-Gaya |
| author_facet | Alberto Cotrino Miguel A. Sebastián Cristina González-Gaya |
| author_sort | Alberto Cotrino |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Industry 4.0 era has resulted in several opportunities and challenges for the manufacturing industry and for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME); technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality (VR) or Cloud Computing are changing business structures in profound ways. A literature review shows that most large-sized enterprises have rolled out investment plans, some of which are reviewed during this research and show that Industry 4.0 investments in such companies exceed the turnover of SMEs in all cases (<€50 million), which makes access to those technologies by SMEs very difficult. The research has also identified two gaps: firstly, the recent literature review fails to address the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies in SMEs from a practical viewpoint; secondly, the few existing roadmaps for the implementation of Industry 4.0 lack a focus on SMEs. Furthermore, SMEs do not have the resources to select suitable technologies or create the right strategy, and they do not have the means to be fully supported by consultancies. To this end, a simple six-step roadmap is proposed that includes real implementations of Industry 4.0 in SMEs. Our results show that implementing Industry 4.0 solutions following the proposed roadmap helps SMEs to select appropriate technologies. In addition, the practical examples shown across this work demonstrate that SMEs can access several Industry 4.0 technologies with low-cost investments. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:26:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-570d75771d3e4fd3a0590eca09bcf324 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:26:09Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-570d75771d3e4fd3a0590eca09bcf3242023-11-20T22:56:17ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172020-11-011023856610.3390/app10238566Industry 4.0 Roadmap: Implementation for Small and Medium-Sized EnterprisesAlberto Cotrino0Miguel A. Sebastián1Cristina González-Gaya2Department of Construction and Manufacturing Engineering, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), C/Juan del Rosal 12, 28040 Madrid, SpainDepartment of Construction and Manufacturing Engineering, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), C/Juan del Rosal 12, 28040 Madrid, SpainDepartment of Construction and Manufacturing Engineering, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), C/Juan del Rosal 12, 28040 Madrid, SpainThe Industry 4.0 era has resulted in several opportunities and challenges for the manufacturing industry and for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME); technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality (VR) or Cloud Computing are changing business structures in profound ways. A literature review shows that most large-sized enterprises have rolled out investment plans, some of which are reviewed during this research and show that Industry 4.0 investments in such companies exceed the turnover of SMEs in all cases (<€50 million), which makes access to those technologies by SMEs very difficult. The research has also identified two gaps: firstly, the recent literature review fails to address the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies in SMEs from a practical viewpoint; secondly, the few existing roadmaps for the implementation of Industry 4.0 lack a focus on SMEs. Furthermore, SMEs do not have the resources to select suitable technologies or create the right strategy, and they do not have the means to be fully supported by consultancies. To this end, a simple six-step roadmap is proposed that includes real implementations of Industry 4.0 in SMEs. Our results show that implementing Industry 4.0 solutions following the proposed roadmap helps SMEs to select appropriate technologies. In addition, the practical examples shown across this work demonstrate that SMEs can access several Industry 4.0 technologies with low-cost investments.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/23/8566Industry 4.0SMEroadmaplow-cost |
| spellingShingle | Alberto Cotrino Miguel A. Sebastián Cristina González-Gaya Industry 4.0 Roadmap: Implementation for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Applied Sciences Industry 4.0 SME roadmap low-cost |
| title | Industry 4.0 Roadmap: Implementation for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises |
| title_full | Industry 4.0 Roadmap: Implementation for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises |
| title_fullStr | Industry 4.0 Roadmap: Implementation for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises |
| title_full_unstemmed | Industry 4.0 Roadmap: Implementation for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises |
| title_short | Industry 4.0 Roadmap: Implementation for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises |
| title_sort | industry 4 0 roadmap implementation for small and medium sized enterprises |
| topic | Industry 4.0 SME roadmap low-cost |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/23/8566 |
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