What matters in implementing the factory of the future

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to study the extent of the transformation of European manufacturing companies towards the factory of the future (FoF) and related concepts, e.g. Industry 4.0 and digitalisation.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative survey design was used to investigate the areas, patterns and elements for implementing FoF. A total of 92 responses from manufacturing firms of Alpine regions were collected and analysed, followed by in-depth interviews with a subset of respondents to identify common challenges, drivers and opportunities for the transformation.FindingsManufacturing companies are gaining awareness on their needs and gaps in the FoF path, the implications on business strategy and the rates of innovation and technology adoption. Nevertheless, they still need to shape their organisational structures (e.g. from highly centralised to more collaborative ones) and nurture their managerial capabilities in operations and supply chain management, and customer relationships, only partially based on FoF technologies.Research limitations/implicationsThis study aims to contribute to recent literature and practice of FoF (and related concepts) by depicting a picture of the possible areas of intervention, main issues and gaps (especially in terms of skills, supply chain and customer relationships) of manufacturing companies in their digital transformation. The qualitative research design and its scope represent the main limitations.Originality/valueThis paper provides a systemic overview for FoF by encompassing the technological, strategic, managerial and organisational perspectives of digitalisation in manufacturing and integrating the insights from a multi-sectorial and multi-dimensional analysis.

Digital organisational readiness: experiences from manufacturing companies

“…(3) Define digital capabilities, competencies and resources for digital transformation (Combe, 2014;Kane et al, 2018;De Sousa Jabbour et al, 2018;Pessot et al, 2020).…”

Digitalization and the Indian Textiles Sector: A Critical Analysis

“…Some of the government policies and programmes such as Digital India are especially geared towards achieving this goal, and the Indian textiles sector too could benefit from the same. In sum, the focus of training and educational institutes must shift from imparting only generic training skills to digitally relevant skills so as to enable the employees, both present and future, to match pace with a rapidly evolving digital landscape without any fear of losing their jobs to technological changes (Maiti et al, 2020;Pessot et al, 2020).…”

“…Apart from designing industry-relevant courses, the other major concern of rise in precarious work conditions due to digitalization may be met with the aid of better design and implementation of labour laws that make it mandatory for employers in the industry to provide some form of social and wage security to their employees (Pessot et al, 2020). Availability of written contracts and specifying work, wage and social security provisions must be applied to all textiles sector employees.…”

“…This could bring a greater number of textiles employees in the net of formal and, therefore, regulated economy, with well-defined wage and social security conditions. Formalization of industry is the need of the hour, both for the sake of the sector and its employees (Pessot et al, 2020).…”

“…For this, proper implementation of government policies such as the National Cyber Security Mission must be followed in letter and spirit. Cyber security must go hand in hand with any major digital push anywhere, or else the process of digitalization risks becoming unsustainable and untenable (Dhillon & Caldeira, 2000;Hon et al, 2014;Lymberis, 2004;Pessot et al, 2020).…”