Industry 4.0 and Sustainability Implications: A Scenario-Based Analysis of the Impacts and Challenges

Abstract

The new evolution of the production and industrial process called Industry 4.0, and its related technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data analytics, and cyber–physical systems, among others, still have an unknown potential impact on sustainability and the environment. In this paper, we conduct a literature-based analysis to discuss the sustainability impact and challenges of Industry 4.0 from four different scenarios: deployment, operation and technologies, integration and compliance with the sustainable development goals, and long-run scenarios. From these scenarios, our analysis resulted in positive or negative impacts related to the basic production inputs and outputs flows: raw material, energy and information consumption and product and waste disposal. As the main results, we identified both positive and negative expected impacts, with some predominance of positives that can be considered positive secondary effects derived from Industry 4.0 activities. However, only through integrating Industry 4.0 with the sustainable development goals in an eco-innovation platform, can it really ensure environmental performance. It is expected that this work can contribute to helping stakeholders, practitioners and governments to advance solutions to deal with the outcomes emerging through the massive adoption of those technologies, as well as supporting the expected positive impacts through policies and financial initiatives.

How do Partners Benefit from IT Use in Supply-Chain Management: An Empirical Study of Taiwan’s Bicycle Industry

“…From the sustainability supply chain viewpoint, sustainable benefits can be obtained from the use of IT or Industry 4.0 related technologies as information systems integration improvement to enhance the supply chain information transparency and processing capability. Such benefits include: transparency of process, machinery, stock, or logistics data to facilitate traceability of commodity flow to increase resource and energy efficiency; reduction of waste, logistics process and delivery errors and damaged goods; shorter set-up and lead times as well as faster machine speed to facilitate faster and more flexible, efficient, and higher quality response to customer demands; reduction of time-to-market in new product design, thus supporting a firm to effectively and efficiently manage operational contingencies and enhance performance [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42].…”

“…Thus, managers should recognize the role of supply-chain capabilities, in terms of information exchange, activity coordination, activity integration as well as responsiveness, for fully realizing the value of IT application. As Barney [107] and Bonilla et al [30] discuss, IT application can ensure sustainable benefits only when they are properly integrated with sustainable development goals and inserted in eco-operation supply chain platform processes. The results (Figure 2) show that the respondents in this study demonstrated high standardized parameter estimates in planning and forecast factors with regard to SCMS application; information exchange ability and responsive ability with regard to SCC; new product development with regard to operational performance; and growth rate with regard to financial performance.…”

“…According to Beier et al [27], and Kiron and Unruh [28], Industry 4.0 is really an enabler of sustainable development, but the convergence of digital transformation and sustainability remains underdeveloped. Recently, a lot of studies have identified several interlinks between Industry 4.0 technologies and sustainable operations, such as: discussing the influence of sustainable business models [29], exploring the potential impact, opportunities and challenges to sustainable development [30][31][32][33][34], enabling of sustainability [35][36][37], potentially contributing sustainable value creation [38], the effects on lean manufacturing practices for sustainable organizations [39,40], and presenting the dependence power of the determinants for Industry 4.0 implication in the sustainability context [41]. According to Vaio and Varriale [42], by adopting a sustainable supply-chain management (SSCM) perspective, firms tend to focus much more on searching for transparent information, coordination, integration, and effective sustainable practices, thus considering Industry 4.0 and its social, environmental, and economic impact.…”

The Millennials’ Effect: How Can Their Personal Values Shape the Future Business Environment of Industry 4.0?

“…When pushing the paradigms of current science, both natural and social, there are a lot of discussions about the phenomenon of digitalization. This phenomenon has, in the last decade, caused profound changes in the natural environment, society, and, consequently, in the business economy (Scholz et al, 2018;Bonilla et al, 2018). Its importance for the progress of human species can be rivaled with such events as the development of agriculture or mastering the fire (Takács-Sánta, 2004;Scholz et al, 2018).…”

“…Current trends in economic and business practice are nowadays firmly focused on the changes that digitalization, which is showing itself in the form of the Industry 4.0 phenomenon, will bring (Müller et al, 2018;Bonilla et al, 2018;Piccarozzi et al, 2018). Digitalization has, especially in the last decade, had a severe impact on the economic system (Scholz et al, 2018) and, within it, the organizations (Mohelska & Sokolova, 2018).…”