Quality 4.0 – a review of and framework for quality management in the digital era

Abstract

PurposeIndustry 4.0 has brought about a paradigm shift in value delivery with the introduction of disruptive technologies. This has resulted in efforts by organizations to re-invent their business processes and reskill their workforce while attempting to realize digital transformation. Quality management in the context of Industry 4.0 is still in its nascent stage with researchers trying to identify key and relevant components of quality management with respect to Industry 4.0. The current study attempts to address the knowledge gap through a literature review and subsequently provide a conceptual framework for quality in the digital transformation context.Design/methodology/approachAn integrative literature review was conducted to analyze and abstract knowledge from the literature on Quality 4.0 and a conceptual framework was developed based on the review.FindingsThe review revealed the motivators, building blocks and challenges for Quality 4.0. The conceptual framework discusses the salient points relevant to Quality 4.0 with respect to the people, process and technology dimensions and their sub-dimensions that can be used to build 4.0 capabilities. The proposed framework is represented to depict the conceptualization and the relationships among its components.Originality/valueThis study aims to contribute to the model building efforts of researchers towards Quality 4.0. The points discussed here provide an actionable direction to augment the efforts of practitioners and organizations in quality management in the context of Industry 4.0, especially digital transformation.

Quality 4.0 transition framework for Tanzanian manufacturing industries

“…To explicate the components of the Quality 4.0 transition framework, a People-Process-Technology (PPT) meta-framework was used to organise and characterise the components of the transition framework thematically. The PPT framework was adopted from Kumar et al. (2022).…”

“…Among other things, organisational culture plays a key role in the effective adoption of Quality 4.0. Gender diversity and a comprehensive, multi-racial multi-cultural and collective work culture must improve the quality of the workplace (Kumar et al. , 2022).…”

“…, 2022). According to the Quality 4.0 approach, organisations must devote effort and time to cultivating a culture that prioritises learning, ethics, quality, safety, among other things (Kumar et al. , 2022).…”

“…Quality 4.0 is “not about the technology itself, but how a company creates and maximizes quality value through quality activities in the framework of Industry 4.0” (Lim, 2020). Management systems, integration and compliance are the three aspects that relate procedures to Quality 4.0 (Kumar et al. , 2022).…”

“…The integration of Quality 4.0 systems and technology expand the quality scope and, accordingly, the requirements for compliance. Collaborative robotics (Cobots), for example, where robots and people work together to complete tasks (Kumar et al. , 2022), would be chosen over traditional robots owing to higher productivity and product or service quality (El Zaatari et al.…”