Industry 4.0 technologies usage: motives and enablers

Abstract

PurposeThe paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the drivers for the use of Industry 4.0 technologies by investigating (1) what motivates companies to consider using I4 technologies and (2) what enables (or hinders) the intention to use I4 technologies to translate into their actual use.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses survey data collected from a sample of export-oriented manufacturing companies with more than 10 employees. Final analysis is conducted on 124 companies.FindingsThe results show that companies are proactively approaching I4. Only efficiency motives and expected competitive advantage have a positive effect on the intention to use I4 technologies, which in turn positively influences their actual use. The external, legitimacy-based, motives do not play a significant role in explaining the intention to use. With respect to I4 technology enablers, employee competency positively moderates and availability of finance negatively moderates the relationship between intention to use and actual use.Research limitations/implicationsThe work extends the existing knowledge base on I4 technology drivers in companies that are not major global trendsetters but are heavily embedded in the value chains of companies from the most industrially developed economies. The study is limited to manufacturing companies in a small European economy and should be retested in other contexts.Practical implicationsThe study can help managers implement I4 technologies in their companies more successfully.Originality/valueWe take a novel research approach by proposing a framework that clearly distinguishes between motives and enablers for the use of I4 technologies.

The Effect of Technological Organization on Cost Innovation and Value Creation

“…Thus, such technology allows companies to synthesize cost innovations from the received data. There are studies that investigated motivations for developing technological organizations, the results of which found that the main motivations are cost reduction and quality, speed, and efficiency improvement [14,41]. The results of this study prove that being a technological organization facilitates cost innovation management.…”

“…An empirical study of the motivation to evolve into a technology organization significantly depends on intra-organizational motivation to increase operational efficiency and competitive advantage. The result does not find the influence of external motivation, such as competitors, suppliers, and customer pressure [14].…”

“…There are studies that investigated motivations for developing technological organizations. One of the main motivations is cost reduction [14,41]. Technological capabilities ensure that technology selection is suitable for its task.…”

The Application of Industry 4.0 Technological Constituents for Sustainable Manufacturing: A Content-Centric Review

“…Today's manufacturing business must adapt to an increasingly dynamic environment and various developments in order to fulfill market expectations. Product life cycles are becoming shorter, production batches are becoming smaller, and dynamic product variations are coupled with growing complexity, all of which pose difficulties to traditional manufacturing processes [129,130]. Thus, traditional manufacturing plants have been compelled to evolve into smart factories equipped with Industry 4.0 enabling technologies [131].…”

From Industry 4.0 towards Industry 5.0: A Review and Analysis of Paradigm Shift for the People, Organization and Technology

“…Furthermore, the reasons for introduction are different. In the literature, is stated how the intentions to use Industry 4.0 technologies are more influenced by the expected increase in efficiency than by pressures from suppliers, customers, or even competitors [126]. On the other side, other results yield that the market uncertainty of the business is a significant driver for adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies [127].…”